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Guide: influencer taxes

Influencer taxes: from when you pay, and which ones.

Five state tax administrations say the same: if you regularly receive money or products as a creator, you run a Gewerbebetrieb (trade). Whether you pay income tax is decided by the Grundfreibetrag; VAT and Gewerbesteuer have limits of their own. Here is what applies, each with its reference.

As of 6 November 2026 · 23 sources

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The ground rules.

Four points from the statutes and the state guides before you read on.

Influencers pay taxes: yes, above the Grundfreibetrag.

Income tax is due once your taxable income in 2026 exceeds €12,348. Everything is added up: your profit as a creator plus salary or other income.1

Regular creator work means a Gewerbebetrieb.

Independent, sustained, with the intention to make a profit and offered on the market: then your income is income from a trade. All five state tax administrations read it that way for influencers. Intending to take in more than you spend is enough.2

VAT applies even without a profit.

You are a business for VAT as soon as you earn income on a sustained basis; whether you aim for a profit is irrelevant. Up to €25,000 turnover in the previous year, the Kleinunternehmer rule helps.3

Gewerbesteuer only above €24,500 of trade income.

As an individual you deduct an allowance of €24,500 from your Gewerbeertrag. Below it, no trade tax is due. Above it, you file a Gewerbesteuer return, and the tax paid is credited against your income tax.4

Your duties, step by step.

The tax office expects more than one return a year. The order in which the state guides describe it.

Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung

Within one month of starting, you send the tax office the registration questionnaire electronically via ELSTER. From it come your tax number, the returns you have to file and, if applicable, advance payments.5

Profit via Einnahmenüberschussrechnung (EÜR)

Without a bookkeeping obligation, your profit is the excess of business receipts over business expenses. You report it in the Anlage EÜR and the Anlage G of your income tax return.6

Products and invitations are income

If you receive a product, advertise it and may keep it, you record its monetary value as a business receipt. The same applies to free services such as hotel stays.7

Record and retain

You record income and expenses individually, completely and promptly. Records are kept for ten years, accounting documents for eight, other documents for six, counted from the end of the year in which they arose.8

Advance payments four times a year

On 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December you pay income tax in advance if the tax office has set it. It is set only from €400 a year and €100 per date.9

Tax return by 31 July

The income tax return for a year is due seven months after year-end, so on 31 July. If your tax adviser prepares it, the deadline is the last day of February of the second following year. With business income you file electronically.10

What creators often miss.

“I only do this now and then.” Someone who appears as an influencer only in isolated cases has other income, which stays tax-free if it is below €256 a year (§ 22 Nr. 3 Satz 2 EStG; Bayerisches Landesamt für Steuern, FAQ Influencer, S. 3). Someone who publishes content regularly and receives money or products for it earns, in the tax administration's view, income from a trade; intending to take in more than you spend is enough (Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 1; Finanzverwaltung NRW). Whether you do it full-time or on the side makes no difference for tax (Finanzverwaltung NRW).

VAT is a different calculation from income tax. You are a business as soon as you earn income on a sustained basis, even without intending a profit (§ 2 Abs. 1 Satz 3 UStG). Your supplies are exempt as long as your total turnover did not exceed €25,000 in the previous year and does not exceed €100,000 in the current year (§ 19 Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG); how it is counted and what happens when you cross is in the guide to the Kleinunternehmer limit. If an agency or platform settles by Gutschrift, it has written your invoice for you; those supplies still belong in your VAT return (Hessen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 5). Who pays you is on your statement or Gutschrift; if your contracting party is based abroad, the service is in principle supplied there under § 3a Abs. 2 UStG. This is a conclusion from the statute, not an explicit rule for creators: have your tax adviser check it.

Benefits in kind are income, even without an agreement. Products, vouchers, hotel stays or invitations that you receive because of your work as a creator are subject to income tax and VAT (Hessen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 2 and 5; Finanzverwaltung NRW; Bayern, FAQ Influencer, S. 9). For income tax, Hessen names the usual retail price less usual discounts, Baden-Württemberg the market value. What applies when you return items, when the value is small or when the brand pays a flat-rate tax is in the guide to taxing free samples.

Gewerbesteuer hits later than many think. The Gewerbeertrag is your profit, increased by certain additions and reduced by certain deductions, rounded down to a full €100 (§ 11 Abs. 1 Satz 3 GewStG; Hessen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 3 f.). As an individual you deduct an allowance of €24,500 (§ 11 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 1 GewStG). Above it you file a Gewerbesteuer return, the municipality sets the tax with its rate, and it is credited against your income tax so that, under certain conditions, it costs you nothing in the end (§ 35 Abs. 1 EStG; Bayern, FAQ Influencer, S. 6). Registering the trade beforehand is covered in the guide to registering a trade.

The back payment comes in year two. In the first year the tax office sets advance payments only from what you state in the questionnaire (Hessen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 3). If the tax turns out higher, the back payment arrives with the assessment, and the advance payments for the current year are based on that latest assessment (§ 37 Abs. 3 Satz 2 EStG). Anyone who neglects their duties risks interest, fines and in extreme cases imprisonment on top of the back payment; the tax authorities research online and ask your business partners (Hessen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 5).

Affliq records what the tax office will later want to see: every deal with its fee, every invoice with the right tax case, every product with value and whereabouts, every platform payout with its tax case. The Kleinunternehmer limit is counted along, the tax reserve estimates each month what you should set aside, and the advance payment dates are in your calendar subscription. At year-end your tax adviser gets a package with everything, plus the bookings in DATEV, sevDesk or lexoffice format. Returns and VAT filings are submitted by you or your adviser; Affliq files nothing with the tax office.

Affliq records and does the maths, it does not advise. How things are taxed is your tax adviser's call.

Frequently asked questions

From when do influencers have to pay taxes?

You pay income tax once your taxable income exceeds the Grundfreibetrag: €12,348 in 2026, €12,096 in 2025. All income counts together, not only what you earn as a creator. VAT and Gewerbesteuer have limits of their own.1

Do I have to pay taxes as an influencer if I only do it on the side?

Yes, if your total income exceeds the Grundfreibetrag. Whether you create content full-time or only on the side makes no difference for tax; your salary and your profit as a creator are added together.11

Which tax returns do I have to file as an influencer?

Once a year the income tax return with Anlage G and Anlage EÜR, electronically. Plus VAT returns and an annual VAT return if you are not a Kleinunternehmer, and a Gewerbesteuer return if your Gewerbeertrag exceeds €24,500.12

Do I have to pay VAT as an influencer?

You are a business as soon as you earn income on a sustained basis, with or without a profit motive. If your total turnover stays below €25,000 in the previous year and €100,000 in the current year, your supplies are exempt as a Kleinunternehmer; above that you generally charge 19 % and file VAT returns.13

Do influencers have to pay Gewerbesteuer?

In principle yes, but only once the Gewerbeertrag exceeds €24,500. The trade tax paid is credited against your income tax, so under certain conditions it does not cost you anything in the end.14

Do I have to pay tax on products I get for free?

Yes. If you receive a product because of your work as a creator and keep it, its monetary value is a business receipt, even without an explicit service in return. VAT may apply on top, unless you are a Kleinunternehmer.7

Why do influencers often face a tax back payment?

Because advance payments are based on the latest assessment, and in the first year there is none yet. The tax for the first year then arrives with the assessment, together with the advance payments for the current year. So set aside a share of every payment.15

How long do I have to keep receipts?

Accounting documents, meaning invoices, Gutschriften and statements, for eight years; your records for ten years; other documents for six years. The period starts at the end of the year in which the document arose.16

Sources

Statutes and administrative guidance, as of 6 November 2026. Tax law changes: the current statutory text always prevails, and what applies to you is for your tax adviser to say.

  1. § 32a Abs. 1 Satz 2 Nr. 1 EStG§ 32a EStG – Einkommensteuertarif · gesetze-im-internet.de, Federal Ministry of Justice; Grundfreibetrag from the 2026 assessment period
  2. § 15 Abs. 2 Satz 1 EStG§ 15 EStG – Einkünfte aus Gewerbebetrieb
  3. § 2 Abs. 1 Satz 3 UStG, § 19 Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG§ 2 UStG – Unternehmer, Unternehmen
  4. § 11 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 1 GewStG§ 11 GewStG – Steuermesszahl und Steuermessbetrag
  5. § 138 Abs. 1b und Abs. 4 AO§ 138 AO – Anzeigen über die Erwerbstätigkeit
  6. § 4 Abs. 3 Satz 1 EStG§ 4 EStG – Gewinnbegriff im Allgemeinen
  7. Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 2 f.Leitfaden zur Besteuerung von Influencerinnen und Influencern · Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, as of June 2026
  8. § 147 Abs. 1, Abs. 3 Satz 1 und Abs. 4 AO§ 147 AO – Ordnungsvorschriften für die Aufbewahrung von Unterlagen
  9. § 37 Abs. 1 Satz 1 und Abs. 5 Satz 1 EStG§ 37 EStG – Einkommensteuer-Vorauszahlung
  10. § 149 Abs. 2 Satz 1 und Abs. 3 AO; § 25 Abs. 4 Satz 1 EStG§ 149 AO – Abgabe der Steuererklärungen
  11. Finanzverwaltung NRW, Influencer & SteuernInfluencer & Steuern · Finanzverwaltung Nordrhein-Westfalen
  12. Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 3 f.Leitfaden zur Besteuerung von Influencerinnen und Influencern · Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, as of June 2026
  13. § 2 Abs. 1 UStG, § 19 Abs. 1 Satz 1 UStG§ 19 UStG – Steuerbefreiung für Kleinunternehmer
  14. § 11 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 1 GewStG, § 35 Abs. 1 EStG§ 35 EStG – Steuerermäßigung bei Einkünften aus Gewerbebetrieb
  15. § 37 Abs. 3 Satz 2 EStG§ 37 EStG – Einkommensteuer-Vorauszahlung
  16. § 147 Abs. 3 Satz 1 und Abs. 4 AO§ 147 AO – Ordnungsvorschriften für die Aufbewahrung von Unterlagen

Further sources

More from Affliq

Registering a trade as an influencer

When the duty to register applies, trade or freelance, questionnaire, IHK, side business, TikTok Shop and UGC, with sections.

Kleinunternehmer limit

€25,000 and €100,000: what counts and what happens when you cross, with sections and sources.

Influencer as a side job

Employed and a creator on the side: business registration, the €410 threshold, tax return, parental leave, parental allowance and health insurance, with sections.

Influencer expenses

Phone, camera, laptop, internet, home office, clothing: what you can deduct as a creator, over how many years and what not, with sections.

All guides

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