Hamster blog

Do content creators pay tax on gifted products and brand deals?

Published 5 October 2026 · Figures are for the 2026–27 tax year

Creating content is usually trading

HMRC's guidance for content creators says that if you earn from your content, you are likely to be trading. That applies whether you post on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch or a blog, and whether it is a full-time career or something you do in the evenings.

Your income from it includes:

• brand deals and sponsored posts
• ad revenue and creator fund payments
• affiliate commission and discount-code payouts
• tips, gifts from viewers and paid subscriptions
• products and services you are given in return for promoting them

Gifted products count

This is the part most new creators miss. HMRC says you must include the value of any gifts or services you received from promoting products online, because they count as income. A £150 skincare bundle sent for a review is £150 of income, even though no money changed hands.

HMRC's guidance is about gifts you receive for promoting products. If something arrives with no request to post about it, keep a note of what it was, what it was worth and whether you were asked to promote it, so you can show which side of the line it falls.

It also helps to label your posts clearly as ads or gifted. Consumer protection law already expects you to, and it gives you a record of which items were part of your business.

The £1,000 rule

The first £1,000 of trading income each tax year is covered by the trading allowance. Two things to know:

• Gifts count towards it. HMRC's own example is a creator with £700 of brand payments, £300 of gifted products and £200 of ad revenue: £1,200 in total, so they must tell HMRC.
• It is one allowance for everything. Content income is added to any reselling, freelancing or delivery work you also do.

Over £1,000, you register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year ends and pay tax on your profit.

What you can claim

You pay tax on profit, which is your income minus either your allowable expenses or the £1,000 allowance, whichever is bigger. For creators, expenses often include:

• cameras, lenses, lighting, microphones and tripods
• editing software, music licences and scheduling tools
• props, costumes or products bought only for content
• the business share of your phone bill and internet
• a flat rate for working from home: £10 a month for 25 to 50 hours, £18 for 51 to 100 hours, £26 for 101 hours or more

If something is used both for content and personally, you can only claim the business part. Everyday clothing is not allowable, even if you only wear it in videos.

A worked example

Zara works full time on £32,000 and posts beauty content in her spare time. In 2026–27 she gets £900 from the TikTok creator programme, £1,800 from two brand deals and £600 of gifted products she promoted.

• Income: £900 + £1,800 + £600 = £3,300
• Expenses: ring light £60, editing app £120, a third of her £300 phone bill £100. Total £280.
• The £1,000 allowance beats £280, so she uses it: £3,300 − £1,000 = £2,300 profit
• Her salary has used her Personal Allowance, so the profit is taxed at 20%: £460
• Her profit is under £12,570, so there is no Class 4 National Insurance

If she had bought a £1,200 camera that year, her expenses would beat the allowance and her bill would fall.

Payments in other currencies

Many platforms pay in US dollars or euros. Record each payment in pounds, and the simplest way is to use the amount in pounds that actually reached your bank. Whatever method you use, use it consistently.

Keeping track

Creator income is scattered: a payout here, a gifted parcel there, an affiliate payment three months later. Hamster is a free Android app with a Content & creative category for logging all of it, including the value of gifted products, and it shows the tax building up as you go. With Premium you can attach receipts for your kit too.

This is general information, not personal tax advice. Rules and rates change — check the linked GOV.UK pages or speak to an accountant about your own situation.