How influencer taxes work

How is influencer income taxed in the US?

If you create content as a business and are not anyone's employee, the IRS treats you as self-employed, and you pay income tax plus self-employment tax on your profit. Its Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center defines self-employed as carrying on a trade or business as a sole proprietor or independent contractor, including part-time businesses. For creators that covers brand deals, platform payouts, affiliate commissions, UGC fees, tips, memberships and product sales.

You report that income and your business expenses on Schedule C, which gives your net profit. You then figure self-employment tax on Schedule SE and file both with Form 1040. The IRS says you have to file a return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. Its self-employment tax page, updated June 27, 2026, and the 2025 Schedule SE both use that $400 line.

Every dollar counts, whether or not you get a tax form. The IRS's Form 1099-K FAQ says all income, no matter the amount, is taxable unless the tax law says it isn't. A 1099 is a report the payer sends the IRS. It does not decide whether you owe tax.

How much is self-employment tax?

For 2025 and 2026, self-employment tax is 15.3% of your net earnings from self-employment, made up of 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. You owe it once those net earnings reach $400, and the IRS applies that test on its own. A creator with a small side income can owe self-employment tax even when the standard deduction wipes out their income tax.

The 2025 Schedule SE and the 2026 Form 1040-ES worksheet both apply the rate to 92.35% of your net profit, not the full amount. The Social Security part stops at a yearly cap. Form 1040-ES puts the 2026 cap at $184,500 of combined wages and self-employment earnings, and the 2025 Schedule SE puts it at $176,100. In both years the 2.9% Medicare part has no cap, and an extra 0.9% Medicare tax applies above $200,000 for single filers and $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.

You can deduct half of your self-employment tax, which the IRS calls the employer-equivalent portion, when you figure adjusted gross income. As worked math, $20,000 of net profit becomes $18,470 after the 92.35% step, and 15.3% of that is about $2,826 of self-employment tax. Income tax comes on top.

When are quarterly estimated taxes due?

For 2026, you generally have to pay estimated tax during the year if you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file, because nobody withholds tax from creator income. The IRS splits the year into four payment periods. You can pay with Form 1040-ES by mail, online, by phone or through the IRS app.

To avoid an underpayment penalty, most people need to pay at least 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's, whichever is smaller. Form 1040-ES raises the second figure to 110% if your adjusted gross income for 2025 was more than $150,000, or $75,000 if married filing separately. You can skip the January 15, 2027 payment if you file your 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the full balance with it.

Move a fixed share of every payment into a separate savings account the day it lands, and pay each quarter from that account. A tax professional can tell you what share to use from your income and your state.

Which 1099 forms do creators get?

Brands, platforms and payment apps report what they pay you on Form 1099-NEC, Form 1099-MISC or Form 1099-K, and the thresholds changed for 2026. The IRS instructions for 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC, revised December 2026, say the threshold for most payments rose to $2,000 for tax years beginning after 2025, and may be adjusted for inflation from 2027. The April 2025 instructions used $600.

Form 1099-K went the other way. The IRS says the 2025 law it calls the One, Big, Beautiful Bill retroactively restored the threshold that applied before 2021. For 2025 and 2026 payments, a payment app or online marketplace has to file only when your payments exceed $20,000 and your transactions exceed 200. Payment card processors have no threshold at all.

The thresholds decide whether a form is sent, not whether you owe tax. The IRS's 1099-K FAQ says a platform may still send a form for less than the threshold, and your state may set a lower one. Keep your own records, report the full amount, and check each form against them.

Are free products and gifted items taxable?

Yes, when a brand sends a product in exchange for a post or video. The IRS treats an exchange of goods or services as bartering. Publication 334 for 2025 returns and Topic 420, updated October 8, 2026, both say you include the fair market value of what you receive in income for the year you receive it. A $400 camera sent on the condition that you review it is $400 of income on Schedule C, even though no cash changed hands.

The same applies to trips, hotel stays and event tickets you get in return for content, because Topic 420 covers services as well as goods. We found no IRS page that deals with unsolicited PR packages sent with no conditions, so ask a tax professional how to treat those. Keep a log of every item you receive, with its fair market value, such as the retail price, and what you posted in return.

A product received as payment is also a material connection that the FTC expects you to disclose. See FTC disclosure rules for influencers.

What can influencers deduct?

You can deduct business expenses that are both ordinary and necessary. IRS Publication 334, the edition for 2025 returns, defines an ordinary expense as one that is common and accepted in your field, and a necessary expense as one that is helpful and appropriate for your business. When something is part business and part personal, such as a phone or a car, you separate the two and deduct only the business part. Common creator deductions include the following:

• Equipment. Cameras, lights, microphones and computers used for the business, deducted under the IRS depreciation rules.
• Software and fees. Editing apps, design tools, music licenses, scheduling tools and the platform fees taken from your sales.
• Home office. A space you use regularly and only for the business. The IRS simplified method, an option for every tax year since 2013, allows $5 per square foot for up to 300 square feet, a maximum of $1,500.
• Car and travel. Business miles at the IRS standard mileage rate or your actual costs, plus travel to shoots, events and brand meetings. The IRS business rate is 70 cents a mile for 2025, 72.5 cents from January 1 to June 30, 2026, and 76 cents from July 1 to December 31, 2026.
• People you pay. Editors, designers, a manager's commission and the professional who prepares your business return.
• Products you buy for content. Items you buy to review or feature. If you keep using them personally, only the business share counts.

What records should creators keep?

Keep a record of every payment in and every expense out, with the document that proves it, for at least three years after you file. Three years is the IRS's general rule. It rises to six years if you leave out income worth more than 25% of the gross income on your return, and records have no time limit if you never file. Keep records for equipment you depreciate, such as a camera, until that period runs out for the year you sell or dispose of it.

Open a separate bank account for the business and run every payment and expense through it. Save invoices, platform statements and receipts, and keep the gifted-product log. Record the business share of mixed-use items such as your phone and car, and keep a mileage log as you drive instead of rebuilding it at tax time.

How are influencers taxed in the UK?

In the UK, the trading allowance covers the first £1,000 of gross trading income each tax year, and HMRC's notes for the 2025 to 2026 return use the same £1,000. Below that, you do not need to tell HMRC unless another rule requires a return. Above £1,000 you must register for Self Assessment, and you can then deduct the £1,000 allowance instead of your actual expenses. HMRC's guidance on online platforms says creator income includes gifts and services you receive for promoting products, valued at what they would have cost you.

The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. For the 2025 to 2026 tax year, which ended 5 April 2026, you had to register by 5 October 2026, and the online return and payment are due by 31 January 2027.

HM Treasury said on 11 March 2025 that it plans to raise the reporting threshold for trading income from £1,000 to £3,000 within this parliament. It gave no start date, and HMRC's guidance still uses £1,000. Other countries tax creator income under their own rules, so outside the US and UK check with your national tax authority or a local accountant.