Hobbyists are not required to get Business Licenses in Philadelphia

Councilman Bill Green enacted a bill that excludes hobbyists from the local business license requirement. The bill ended a year old controversy between bloggers, and government officials who were trying to tax bloggers.

The confusion began when city officials sent letters to operators of blogs around the city that they must apply for either a one-year $50 business license or a lifetime $300 license.

Most bloggers claimed that their forums were hobbies and the profits, if any, were negligible. Outrage followed these letters, as residents around the city denounced the city’s attempt to tax every possible aspect of people’s lives.

Councilman Green tried dealing with this issue by introducing a bill that defines the requirements of hobbyists who must obtain city business licenses.

The bill introduced by Councilman Green sets a minimum profit margin of $3,000 annually for hobby-related businesses. As long as one’s hobby generates less than $3,000 each year, one is not required to obtain a City of Philadelphia business license.

Bloggers who claim revenue from their blogs on their tax return must affirm on a legal document that one's business is a hobby and isn’t generating $3,000 annually.

“We just wanted to have a clear, simple and easy process for hobbyists and anybody in the creative community to have a simple form they can fill out that says ‘This is a hobby. It’s not a business. I’m not going to claim a federal deduction and therefore don’t have to get a business privilege license,” Green said, quoted in Technically Philly.

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