Do I have to pay taxes on my reviews?
January 28, 2010 in Beginners, Latest Posts by admin 13 Comments » 1,108 views
- Thought that trip to BlogHer was free because you had a “sponsor”?
- Thought that new toy you packed away for Christmas was a bonus because it was from PR?
- Thought that extra $25 you sold in text links wasn’t taxable because its under “$600″?
- Thought that that nice expenses paid trip you took to Disneyland was a great way to fund your family vacation?
Think again.
Time to get your IRS knowledge up to date, review bloggers.
Your product reviews and trips are taxable as earned income.
While it’s one companies write off as a marketing expense (ie you) it’s your earned income. In other words, those “free products” are not so free to the IRS.
I highly suggest you watch these videos taken from the i Blog Conference, December 2009, with a tax professional straight with answers on how you have to complete your taxes this year as a blogger that accepted review products.
The videos are broken down into 7 videos less than 10 minutes a piece and if you are short on time, start with the 2nd one because it pertains the most valuable information for taxes and bloggers.
Then, armed with knowledge, make sure you disclose to your tax preparation agent and let them make all the right decisions for you this year with their understanding of the laws.
thank-you to iatraveler for pointing out these helpful videos.
that’s bullshit especially since we’re not getting paid to do it…
Thank you for the great info… it’s nice to know what I have to share with my accountant. I have received a 1099 from BlogHer as I won a $1,000 Visa gift card from them.
I really appreciate all the things you are teaching us!
Thank you for this info! I am planning to do my taxes next week and this will help me.
I have bookmarked this, thank you SOO much. Man, I’m dreading tax season this year.
Thanks for the info! I will sit down and watch those videos when my husband gets back from his business trip. Since he’s my tax man
This is very helpful information! It’s exactly what I’ve been wondering about, now I can move forward with a clearer plan! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for this information, very useful! Last tax season I had asked my accountant about product reviews and if I had to claim the products as assets or anything, because obviously I don’t have a clue. It’s nice to know that YES I do need to claim these items, especially since I do so many. Now I thought I had all my tax information ready, because I already tracked all income and expenses pertaining to both my business and blog but I did not take into consideration fair market value for the many products I received. Now off to compile that information which is going to be time consuming but at the same time since I didn’t make that much last year I think it may be beneficial to me in some ways .. I HOPE!
I recall watching the tweetstream as this conference went along, and I saved some valuable tidbits from it. Such a wealth of knowledge! Thanks!
Thank you for the info. This issue is SO much clearer now
I have not watched the videos yet, but here’s some more info on taxes and blogging….
http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2009/12/blogging-taxes-what-you-need-to-know/
Another good one:
http://www.mrscpa.net/mrs_cpa/2009/01/blogging-and-taxes-part-1.html
This is a 3-part series….here is the first one (links to the other 2 parts are on the page)
Great info! I went to those sites and they are fabulous for information! And one led to the next and to the next.