<prompt> Human: I am a boring single adult male, no wife, no kids, no mortgage. My lone source of income is a simple 9-5 office job. For years I have always just filed own taxes, taken the standand deduction and called it a day. But, living in LA, like everyone here, I have creative aspirations. Seemingly, all of these people around me aggressively file their taxes, writing off every penny they spend, and they swear by it. Im told that I should write off my travel expenses because Im traveling to get my photography career off the ground technically true, the money spent on concerts and other live events as research for my aspirations as a live music producer technically true and the money spent buying a computer, and going out to meals with friends and acquaintances in the entertainment industry to maintain my network for my aspirations as a television writer and producer technically true.Im told Im throwing money away by not being more aggressive, and that their CPA will assure me these are legit expenseslosses, but the whole thing makes me a bit uneasy. I think all of them are fudging the truth and dont want to risk putting a spotlight on my taxes for life over a few hundred or a thousand bucks. So a few questions:What exactly differentiates between money spent that gets written off a business expense and what goes down as a business loss?If expenses like the gray area ones I listed above are entered in a Schedule C as business losses money spent in an attempt to get a creative personal career off the ground - with no income as of yet can a person claim the standard deduction on top of that?If so, why doesnt everyone file a Schedule C and claim business losses on top of their standard deduction? Everybody has dreams and you cant prove they arent pursuing a new career - just like the countless aspiring screenwriters and actors who write off thousands of dollars worth of meals and cable bills and macbooks in pursuit of making it big, year after year, without making a dime?What am I missing? Are all of these people just being reckless with their taxes and screaming for an audit? Or are people leaving money on the table by not taking advantage of the Schedule C?  <response>: Until these creative ventures of yours start generating income, they are merely a hobby. And hobbies are not deductible. For example, I play golf all the time. If I was good enough, I would play on the PGA Tour. Id deduct my expenses too! But until my golf career starts earning money i.e. never then golf is simply a hobby, and I cant deduct any of it. 