Yes. HMRC's guide to tax rules for content creators says that when you work out your income from creating online content you must include the value of any gifts or services you received from promoting products online, because they count as income. The GOV.UK page on income from online platforms adds the valuation test: use what the gift or service would have cost if you had paid for it. That value sits alongside your fees and ad revenue when you check whether you are over the £1,000 trading allowance for the tax year.
This guide covers the UK income tax side of gifted products, how to value them and how they interact with the trading allowance. The VAT side for registered creators is in our UK VAT guide for creators, and labelling gifted posts is a separate advertising-rules question. Sources were checked on 1 October 2026.
What HMRC actually says about gifted products
HMRC's creator page gives a worked example that is worth reading closely. Brands paid a creator £700 in a year to post product review videos, sent the items to keep for free, worth £300, and the creator also made £200 from adverts on the videos. HMRC adds all three and arrives at £1,200 of income from the content side hustle, which is over £1,000, so the creator must tell HMRC. The gifts alone did not push the total over; the gifts plus the cash did, which is the pattern most creators miss.
The online platforms page says income can be money, gifts or services, that income from creating online content includes gifts and services you receive from promoting products online, and that you add it to income from your other trading activities before comparing the total with the allowance. Its own illustration is a beauty reviewer who earns advertising income and receives gifts from the companies whose products they review, and who may need to tell HMRC.
Three further points come from the same HMRC creator page. There is a single £1,000 allowance per tax year, shared across every side hustle you have. If you need to tell HMRC, you register for Self Assessment as a sole trader by 5 October. And total income means the amount before expenses, which is not the same as profit.
Why gifts trip creators up
HMRC commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to interview creators, and the report, Research to understand Social Media Content Creators, was published on 6 November 2025 after 34 in-depth interviews. It found that brand gifts were often the first way creators were rewarded, that creators tended not to treat them as income because they could not be used to pay living costs, and that confusion about whether and how to include gifts was pervasive at every level of experience and income.
Some interviewees believed gifts only counted above a certain value, only if they could be resold, or only when work was formally contracted. Neither of the HMRC pages linked above sets a minimum value or a resale condition. The report also records gifts arriving without prior agreement when a creator's address was on a PR list, and disagreement about whether items could be sold on or were press samples not for resale.
The research named three valuation gaps creators wanted guidance on: gifts sent with no pricing information, bespoke items, and pre-release items or samples with no recommended retail price anywhere. The method table below is built around those gaps, and it marks the places where HMRC's public pages stop and an adviser has to take over.
Valuation method table
HMRC's test is what the gift would have cost if you had paid for it. The table turns that test into evidence you can file; the flag column shows how much judgement is involved.
| Situation | Evidence to keep | Applying the cost-to-you test | Adviser flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Item on public sale with a listed price | Dated screenshot of the brand's product page | The price you would have paid to buy it that day is the natural starting point | Low: note any public discount running on the day |
| Brand states a value in its email or contract | The email or contract clause with the stated figure | Compare the stated value with the public price and record both | Ask which figure to use when the two differ |
| Bespoke or personalised item made for you | The brand's description and any quote it shared | No public price exists, a gap HMRC's own research names | High: agree one method and apply it every time |
| Pre-release item or sample not yet listed | Launch date and the price once it is listed | A later public price is evidence of cost; until then the value is open | High: write down why you chose the figure |
| Meal, hotel stay, trip or event ticket | Menu prices, booking quote, ticket face value, itinerary | What booking the same thing yourself would have cost | Medium: split out any part you paid for |
| Store credit, voucher or discount code to spend | The face value and a record of what you obtained with it | HMRC's pages do not say whether the face value or the goods obtained should count | Ask before choosing; keep both figures |
| Product sent with no request to post | The covering note and whether you featured it | HMRC ties gifts to promoting products; no-obligation items are not addressed | High: ask before leaving anything out |
| Item returned to the brand unused | Return confirmation or courier receipt | Returned items are not covered on the HMRC pages we read | Medium: keep proof the item went back |
| Gifted item you later sell on | The sale listing and the amount received | Receiving the gift and selling it may be two separate events | Ask whether the sale needs reporting as well |
| Cash fee and product in the same deal | The contract plus your invoice for the fee | Add the fee and the product value, as HMRC's example does | Low: both belong in your income |
Gift log template
HMRC's creator page says it is your responsibility to keep full and accurate records of income, even if you use a tax agent or accountant. A gift log does that job for non-cash income. Start it today and add each parcel on the day it arrives.
| Log column | What to write | Why it helps at tax time |
|---|---|---|
| Date received | The delivery date, not the date you posted | Places the gift in the right tax year, 6 April to 5 April |
| Brand and contact | Company name, the person who emailed you, any agency in between | Lets you request a value or invoice later |
| What arrived | Item, variant and quantity, or the service or experience | Matches the item to a public price |
| What was asked of you | Post type, deadline and usage terms, or a note that nothing was asked | Separates promotional gifts from no-obligation parcels |
| Value and method | The figure, the method row from the table above and a link to the evidence | Shows your adviser how the number was reached |
| Where and when it featured | Platform, date and a link to each post | Links the gift to the promotion HMRC describes |
| What happened to it | Kept, used as a prop, returned, given away or sold, with a date | Flags the rows in the table that need advice |
| Notes for your accountant | Anything unusual, such as a bundle with a cash fee | Saves a round of questions at year end |
Worked example in HMRC's format, with placeholders
Replace each letter with your own figures for one tax year. The structure follows HMRC's example of fees plus gifts plus adverts; nothing here predicts what you will earn.
- Cash fees paid by brands between 6 April and 5 April: A.
- Value of gifted products, services and experiences received for promotion, from your log: B.
- Platform income such as ad revenue, subscriptions and tips, before the platform's fees: C.
- Any other side hustle trading income, such as craft sales or freelance work: D.
- Total gross trading income: A plus B plus C plus D.
- If that total is £1,000 or less, the trading allowance guidance calls this full relief: you may not need to tell HMRC, but you must still keep records, and some situations still require a return.
- If the total is over £1,000, register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year ends, then choose between deducting the £1,000 allowance, which the guidance calls partial relief, and deducting your actual expenses.
The same guidance lists when the allowance is unavailable for a whole tax year: if you have trade income from a company you or someone connected to you owns or controls, from a partnership you or a connected person belong to, or from your employer or your spouse's or civil partner's employer. A creator whose employer's brand sends products to promote should check this before relying on the allowance. It also lists reasons to file even under £1,000, such as claiming loss relief.
One timing trap: the online platforms page notes that some platforms show your income for the calendar year, 1 January to 31 December, so you need to rework those figures into the tax year before you add them up.
Gifts and your other UK tax questions
- HMRC's creator page says you may have to pay tax on side hustle income if your total income, including a main job, is above the basic personal allowance of £12,570.
- If you are VAT registered, a gift received in exchange for a post can be a barter supply in its own right; our VAT treatment table for creators covers that.
- Gifts declared as trading income are part of the turnover HMRC reads when deciding who joins Making Tax Digital, explained in our Making Tax Digital guide.
- When a brand offers product instead of a fee, you can quote a price for the work; our UGC rates pricing worksheet sets one out from your own inputs.
- A clear gifting policy in your influencer media kit makes it easier to say which parcels you accept and on what terms.
- If you did not include gifts in past returns, HMRC's creator page says to pay what you owe as soon as you can and to talk to HMRC, which offers support such as Time to Pay arrangements.
Limits of this guide
This is general information based on HMRC and GOV.UK pages and HMRC-commissioned research as they read on 1 October 2026, not tax advice. HMRC's public pages set the principle and one example; they do not settle no-obligation parcels, returned or resold items, credits and vouchers, or bespoke and pre-release products, and the research itself says creators and even accountants were unsure about gifts. The trading allowance page was last updated in May 2019, so check it against current Self Assessment guidance. Rules for Australian and US creators are different and are not covered here.
Ask an accountant or a chartered tax adviser to agree a valuation method with you before your first return that includes gifts, then keep applying it consistently. Bring your gift log; it is the record HMRC expects you to have.