This would be hobby v business - to be considered a business you have to show a profit motive not necessarily a profit. You should be aware one of The Services " Pet Peeves" is people trying to take a deduct v ordinary income for a hobby. For this reason it is a very popular topic in the Tax Court.

The big difference being if it is deemed a hobby, then you can only deduct your expenses up to the income you make from said hobby, ie you cannot generate a loss to offset other sources of income.

There are 9 items enumerated in the income tax regulations that are used to evaluate if you have a profit motive - These are (of course) subjective and that is why it ends up in Tax Court.