Income from social media platforms – individual taxpayers
If the form of your company is a limited-liability company, see these instructions instead.
Whether money or benefits that are worth money, all the income you earn or gain from social media is subjected to income tax. The income that comes from social media is taxed in accordance with normal tax rules. This means that you need to pay income taxes as usual, and you can claim tax-deductions for some of your expenses in the normal way.
Select the instructions that apply to your social media activities.
If you receive a financial reward for commercial cooperation or other social media activities, the reward is taxable income for you.
Check your pre-completed tax return
File all financial rewards on your tax return. If any income is missing from your pre-completed tax return, i.e. if a company that paid you a reward has not reported it to the Tax Administration, add the income to your return. Also report any expenses you incurred for the production of income.
How to file in MyTax
Report your income and expenses under Other income in the Income-generating activity section.
If you had an employment contract with the payor,
- report the income under Wages, salaries, fees and compensation, and
- the expenses under Expenses for the production of income – Expenses for the production of wage income.
How to file on paper forms
Select a form:
- Production of income: Form 11 Activities for the production of income (if you have not made an employment contract with the payor)
- Wage income: Form 50A Earned income and deductions (if you have made an employment contract with the payor)
Product gifts are also taxable income, unless the product is an ordinary promotional gift. The taxability does not depend on whether you had agreed on the product gift with the sender in advance.
The amount of tax collected on product gifts depends on their market value. Market value means the price that you would pay for the product if you bought it yourself.
Example: You agree with a company to promote and showcase their product on social media for a certain period of time. After that, you get to keep the product. No other compensation was agreed on. The product’s market value is €300. The amount is taxable earned income for you.
Product gifts are not always subject to tax
You may receive product gifts that fall under the category of ordinary promotional gifts. Such gifts include, for example, samples of products that a company manufactures or sells and sends to consumers at random. Ordinary promotional gifts are not taxable income.
A product is an ordinary promotional gift in the following cases:
- the selling price of the product, including VAT, is at most €50
- the product has an advertising logo or the like on it, and you cannot easily exchange the product for cash, i.e. resell it. In this case, the product may be more than €50 in value.
However, if you received the product gift as compensation after you advertised or promoted it on social media, the market value of the gift is always taxable income for you. In this case, the €50 limit or features of the product are irrelevant: the entire value of the gift is subject to tax.
If you use the product to generate social media income, you can deduct part of the product’s value. The deduction depends on the portion you use for the production of income.
Example: A company sends you a product valued at €40 including VAT. The company does not insist that you promote the product on social media or that you should return it. In this case, the product is a usual promotional gift and it is not taxable income.
Example: You have previously cooperated with a company in terms of promotional activities. Now the company sends you an article of clothing worth €100 from its new collection. The gift is taxable income because its VAT-inclusive price is over €50.
Example:You received baking ingredients as a gift from a company. The value of the ingredients is €100. It is considered taxable income. You use all the baking ingredients you received to create baking-related social media content. In this case, you may deduct the value of the baking ingredients, €100, as expenses in your taxation. Report the deduction as expenses on your pre-completed tax return.
Check your pre-completed tax return
If the income is missing from your pre-completed tax return, i.e. if the company that gave you the product has not reported it to the Tax Administration, you need to add the income to the return. Report the product’s market value as the amount of income. Also report the expenses relating to the income.
How to file in MyTax
Report the value of the product and the expenses under Other income in the Income-generating activity section.
However, if you had an employment contract with the payor,
- report the value of the product under Wages, salaries, fees and compensation
- report the expenses under Expenses for the production of income – Expenses for the production of wage income.
How to file on paper forms
Select a form:
- Production of income: Form 11 Activities for the production of income (if you have not made an employment contract with the payor)
- Wage income: Form 50A Earned income and deductions (if you have made an employment contract with the payor)
Gift vouchers, entrance tickets and other benefits of monetary value are also taxable income. The amount of tax is based on their market value. Market value means the price that you would pay for the product, ticket, etc. if you bought it yourself.
Example: The organiser of an event sends you a free ticket to a music festival. During the festival weekend you are also invited to stay at a local hotel for free. The value of the festival ticket is €120 and the hotel weekend is valued at €350. Their total value, €470, is considered taxable earned income for you. The amounts you can deduct – expenses for the production of income – are the cost connected to your activity in social media which you have paid.
Check your pre-completed tax return
If the income is missing from your pre-completed tax return, i.e. if the company that gave you the benefit has not reported it to the Tax Administration, you need to add the income to the return. Also report the expenses relating to the income.
How to file in MyTax
Report your income and expenses under Other income in the Income-generating activity section.
However, if you had an employment contract with the payor,
- report the income under Wages, salaries, fees and compensation
- report the expenses that relate to wage income under the section Expenses for the production of income – Expenses for the production of wage income.
How to file on paper forms
Select a form:
- Production of income: Form 11 Activities for the production of income (if you have not made an employment contract with the payor)
- Wage income: Form 50A Earned income and deductions (if you have made an employment contract with the payor)
If the discount you receive is also given to other customers, it is not subject to tax.
Discounts are always subject to tax if
- they have been agreed to be compensation for social media visibility
- you are given a larger discount than other consumers on account of commercial cooperation, for example.
File on the pre-completed tax return
Report the taxable discount on your tax return.
How to file in MyTax
Report your income and expenses under Other income in the Income-generating activity section.
However, if you had an employment contract with the payor,
- report the income under Wages, salaries, fees and compensation
- report the expenses that relate to wage income under the section Expenses for the production of income – Expenses for the production of wage income.
How to file on paper forms
Select a form:
- Production of income: Form 11 Activities for the production of income (if you have not made an employment contract with the payor)
- Wage income: Form 50A Earned income and deductions (if you have made an employment contract with the payor)
Income from streaming or rewards-based fundraising campaigns is taxable income.
Example: You hold three separate concerts through a streaming service. You do not have a company, so you file the income and expenses on the pre-completed tax return. You use a computer you bought at the beginning of the year as well as a microphone for the streaming. You also use the computer for other purposes, but the microphone you bought specifically for the concerts. Your stream is available to all, so anyone can view the concerts free of charge. However, you receive viewer donations through the streaming service. Part of the computer’s price and the entire price of the microphone are deductible as expenses in your tax return.
Check your pre-completed tax return
If the income is missing from your pre-completed tax return, i.e. if the company that paid you has not reported it to the Tax Administration, you need to add the income to the return. Also report the expenses relating to the income.
How to file in MyTax
Report your income and expenses under Other income in the Income-generating activity section.
However, if you had an employment contract with the payor,
- report the income under Wages, salaries, fees and compensation
- report the expenses under Expenses for the production of income – Expenses for the production of wage income.
How to file on paper forms
Select a form:
- Production of income: Form 11 Activities for the production of income (if you have not made an employment contract with the payor)
- Wage income: Form 50A Earned income and deductions (if you have made an employment contract with the payor)
See instructions for filing on paper
What is a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign?
A rewards-based funding campaign is an arrangement where the campaign organiser collects money for their own activities. The donor, in turn, receives products, services, experiences, memberships or shares in exchange for their money.
Note that if the donor does not receive any consideration from the campaign, the organiser must request a money collection permit from the police.
Income from a foreign website is taxable in Finland. If you receive income from a foreign website, you must pay income tax to Finland.
Example: You live in Finland and upload photos and videos to a foreign social media site. The site generates different types of income to you: monthly charges, one-time charges and tips. The income is taxed as earned income.
Check your pre-completed tax return
If the income is missing from your pre-completed tax return, i.e. if the company that gave you the reward or benefit has not reported it to the Tax Administration, you need to add the income to the return. Also report the expenses relating to the income.
How to file in MyTax
Report the income and related deductions under Foreign income. Select Yes at Foreign income, then click Open specification and select Add new earned income. Fill in the necessary details.
How to file on paper forms
Foreign income: Form 16A Statement on foreign income (earned income)
File a business tax return
If your income from social media is part of your business operations, file the income and expenses on the business tax return.
See the instructions for filing a tax return.
Check whether you are liable to pay VAT
If your company’s turnover exceeds €15,000 in an accounting period, you must also register for VAT. The threshold of €15,000 is for value-added taxes only.
Read more
You can deduct your expenses for social media activities
You can deduct the expenses incurred in acquiring or maintaining the income you have received from social media. You can deduct expenses from your social media income under the same principle as from any other income. However, you can deduct only that part of the expenses that is directly associated with your social media activities. However, normal living expenses are non-tax-deductible.
Example: You have received a cosmetics product. You can keep the product after using it for social media purposes. The part that you use for social media purposes, i.e. for the production on income, is deductible in taxation.
Read the instructions on how to deduct your costs for a computer, for example.
Read the instructions concerning non-deductible expenses.
See also:
- Pre-completed tax return – when will you receive the pre-completed tax return and when is the due date?
- The pre-completed tax return – making corrections in MyTax or on paper, Activities for the production of income