Tax on Gifted Products and PR Gifts
Written and reviewed by the Influencer Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed 28 July 2026.
Free products feel like a perk, not a payslip, which is why this is the influencer tax question that surprises people most. If a brand sends you something because you will post about it, the taxman treats that product as payment, and payment is taxable.
This is the rule, the narrow case where a gift really is just a gift, and how to keep it all straight without losing your mind at year end.
Why a Free Product Is Taxable
Tax does not only apply to cash. Where you receive something of value in return for your services, the value of that thing is taxable income, the same as if the brand had paid you and you had bought it yourself. A gifted product given in exchange for a post, a story or a review is payment in kind for promotion.
So the £400 skincare set sent on the understanding that you will feature it is £400 of taxable income, whether or not any money changed hands. This trips creators up because there is no invoice and nothing hits the bank, but the obligation is the same.
When a Gift Is Genuinely a Gift
There is a real distinction. If a brand sends something with no expectation of anything back, no agreed post, no contract, no strings, that can be a genuine gift and outside your trading income. Unsolicited seeding that you are free to ignore can fall here.
The problem is that most PR is not like that. If there is an agreement, a brief, a hashtag to use or an expectation you will post, it is not a no-strings gift, it is payment. When it is genuinely unclear, the deciding factor is whether you were obliged to do anything in return, not whether you happened to post.
Putting a Value on What You Receive
The figure you bring in is the value of what you got, normally what it would sell for. For a physical product that is the retail price; for a trip, an event or an experience, it is the cost of what was provided. Keep it reasonable and consistent and you will be fine.
The same items can also create an expense. If a gifted product is genuinely used in producing your content, part of its treatment can sit alongside your other costs. This is exactly the kind of netting-off that is easy to get wrong alone and quick for an accountant to handle.
Keeping Records Without the Headache
You do not need a spreadsheet science project. Note what you were sent, roughly when, the brand, whether a post was expected, and a sensible value. A monthly ten minutes beats reconstructing a year of PR parcels the night before the deadline.
If gifting is a real part of your income, it is worth having this reviewed rather than guessed. Our influencer accountants deal with gifted-income valuation as a matter of course, so the taxable figure is defensible and you are not over-declaring either.