Guide: benefits in kind
Tax on free products: PR packages, gifts and barter deals.
Instagram, YouTube or TikTok: what brands send you is, as a rule, income in the tax office's eyes, even without an invoice and without money. Here is what five state tax administrations, the Income Tax Act and the VAT Act say about PR packages, gifts, hotel nights and barter deals, how you value them and what you write down, each with its reference.
As of 6 November 2026 · 24 sources
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The basic rules.
Four points from the tax administration's guides and from the statutes.
Tax on free products: yes, if you receive them because of your work.
Income is not just money in your account. Benefits in kind such as free products, vouchers or gifts count as income if you receive them in connection with your work as an influencer. That is how the tax administration of North Rhine-Westphalia puts it.1
Even without an agreement, even unsolicited.
NRW's rule of thumb: if you receive money or benefits in kind because you work as an influencer, they are taxable, whether or not you give anything specific in return. Under this rule, a PR package that arrives without a request is no different from one you asked for.1
Services count too: hotel, trip, event.
If you receive a service free of charge in exchange for advertising or a mention by name, you record its regular value as income, a hotel night for example. Bavaria, Berlin and Baden-Württemberg name hotels, events and trips explicitly.2
Income tax and VAT.
According to the state guides, benefits in kind are subject to both taxes. For VAT, a product for a post is a barter-like supply: the consideration for your advertising service consists of a delivery of goods.3
Valuation, booking, special cases.
Here the official sources don't agree on every point. We show who says what.
Value for income tax
Hesse: the usual retail price at the place of supply less usual discounts, the formula of § 8 Abs. 2 Satz 1 EStG. Baden-Württemberg speaks of market value. Bavaria and Berlin admit that the amount is usually not easy to settle unless the usual price of the item is known.4
Value for VAT
In a barter-like supply, the value of each supply counts as the consideration for the other. What matters is what the brand spends on the product or the hotel night, including ancillary costs such as shipping. If it has no specific expenses for it, the consideration is estimated.5
Counts towards the Kleinunternehmer limit
Total turnover uses the taxable amount, which in a barter is the value of the consideration. A barter deal therefore counts towards your €25,000 and €100,000, even though no money changes hands. As a Kleinunternehmer you owe no VAT on it, but the limit fills up.6
Booking: income, business expense, withdrawal
You book the value as business income. The loss in value during business use is a business expense. If you then keep using the product privately, you record the used product's going-concern value as a withdrawal, which increases your income.7
Returns, trifles, flat-rate tax: exceptions
If you have to send the goods back, if they are of very low value or if the company takes over the taxation for you, the tax administration says deviations may arise. Which ones exactly, no official source says. Record the return and the notice with date and receipt.8
Passing it on: donation or giveaway
If you give a product to a tax-privileged organisation right after withdrawing it, the withdrawal may be valued at book value; keep the donation receipt. If you raffle it off to followers, a prize in a competition is not a gift in the sense of the €50 limit. How you book the giveaway is for your tax adviser.9
What this means for PR packages, gifts and barter deals.
The principle is in the official income tax handbook: business income is any inflow in money or money's worth caused by the business (H 4.7 EStH). If you work as a creator regularly and receive money, promotional gifts or services for it, the tax administration treats it as business income (§ 15 Abs. 2 EStG; Hessian Ministry of Finance, influencer guide, p. 2). If you only act in isolated cases, it is other income, taxable from a total of €256 a year (§ 22 Nr. 3 Satz 2 EStG; Bavarian State Tax Office, influencer FAQ). Whether the product arrives by post, as a hotel reservation or as a ticket changes nothing.
The unsolicited PR package: for income tax, NRW's rule of thumb applies, taxable regardless of any specific service in return. For VAT it looks different. Only a service you perform for consideration is taxable (§ 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 UStG); if you post nothing and promised nothing, there is no exchange of services. If you do post about it, a seemingly free item for which the recipient actually gives something in return is a supply for consideration by the brand (Abschnitt 3.3 Abs. 17 UStAE) and, on your side, a barter-like supply. This is a conclusion from the statute, not an explicit rule for creators; have your tax adviser check it. If you send the package back, the outcome may differ (Bavarian State Tax Office, influencer FAQ, p. 9); record the return with date and receipt.
The barter deal: here the product, hotel night or event ticket is your fee. For income tax its value is your income; for VAT your advertising service is a barter-like supply whose consideration is the value of what you receive (§ 3 Abs. 12 Satz 2, § 10 Abs. 2 Satz 2 UStG). If you are a regular VAT payer, you owe VAT on it although no money changed hands. If the brand is based abroad, your service to a business is as a rule performed at its seat (§ 3a Abs. 2 UStG) and is then not taxable in Germany; that changes the VAT and the Kleinunternehmer limit, not the income tax. This, too, is a conclusion from the statute, not a rule for creators.
“The brand paid a flat-rate tax on it.” A business can tax benefits in kind at a flat 30 %; they then stay out of your income, and it must tell you so (§ 37b Abs. 1 and 3 EStG). This is meant for benefits given in addition to a service already agreed (BMF letter of 19 May 2015, Rn. 9a) and for gifts; it is not a gift if it is payment for a specific service in return (R 4.10 Abs. 4 Satz 2 EStR). A PR package with nothing owed in return can therefore be a gift on which the brand pays the flat rate; a product that replaces your fee usually is not. Above €10,000 per recipient and year the flat rate is excluded (§ 37b Abs. 1 Satz 3 EStG). Without notice, don't assume a flat-rate tax was paid, and VAT is unaffected by it. The €50 in § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 1 EStG is the giver's limit for deducting the expense, not an exemption for you.
Documentation: Hesse puts it in three words, document, document, document. Records must be kept individually, completely, correctly, promptly and in order (§ 146 Abs. 1 Satz 1 AO), and receipts and other documents relevant to taxation must be retained (§ 147 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 and 5 AO). Per benefit in kind that means: date, sender, product or service, occasion (requested, unsolicited, part of a deal), value with evidence (screenshot of the shop price, the hotel's price list), whereabouts (kept, used up, returned, given away, raffled, donated) and a § 37b notice if there is one. How it is valued and booked is your tax adviser's call; without a record, they can't make it.
Affliq keeps every benefit in kind, product or service, with its market value and the source of that value: no €0 from a screenshot, a list price read off a screenshot is flagged “check value”, and screenshots of the shop price stay in the log as evidence. The history records what became of it, received, used up, returned, given away, raffled, donated, used privately or for the business, with photos and receipts that can no longer be changed. A brand's § 37b notice you record on the product; Affliq then takes the value out of your income but keeps counting it towards the Kleinunternehmer limit. Everything goes into the tax package for your tax adviser.
Affliq records and does the maths, it does not advise. How things are taxed is your tax adviser's call.
Frequently asked questions
Do influencers have to pay tax on free products in Germany?
As a rule, yes. Benefits in kind such as free products, vouchers or gifts count as income if you receive them in connection with your work as an influencer. VAT may apply as well, unless you are a Kleinunternehmer.1
Do I have to pay tax on a PR package I never ordered?
For income tax, NRW's tax administration says: taxable, whether or not you give anything specific in return. For VAT, without a service from you there is no exchange of services; that is a conclusion from § 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 UStG, not an explicit rule. Settle it with your tax adviser and record what you did with the package.10
Are gifts to influencers up to €50 tax-free?
No, not for you. The €50 decide whether the giver may deduct the cost as a business expense. For you as a recipient with business income, no official source names an exemption threshold.11
How do I pay tax on a barter deal where no money changes hands?
The value of the product or service is your income. For VAT, your advertising service is a barter-like supply whose consideration is the value of what you receive. As a regular VAT payer you owe VAT on it; as a Kleinunternehmer the value counts towards the limit.12
Do I have to pay tax on a free hotel night or trip?
Yes. If you receive a service free of charge in exchange for advertising or a mention, you record its regular value as income; Hesse names hotel nights explicitly, Bavaria, Berlin and Baden-Württemberg also events and trips. The share that goes to a shoot or an event visit can be a business expense; how you split it is for your tax adviser.2
At what value do I record a gifted product?
For income tax, Hesse names the usual retail price at the place of supply less usual discounts, Baden-Württemberg the market value. For VAT, what the brand spends on it counts, including shipping. Record the price you can prove and settle the valuation with your tax adviser.5
The brand says it paid the flat-rate tax under § 37b. Do I have nothing to do?
If it applied the flat rate and told you so, the benefit stays out of your income. That fits gifts and extras on top of an existing deal, usually not a product that is your fee. Keep the notice; VAT is unaffected.13
How do I book benefits in kind and what do I have to write down?
As business income at their value; the loss in value during business use is a business expense, private use afterwards a withdrawal at going-concern value. You keep records individually, completely, correctly, promptly and in order: date, sender, product, occasion, value with evidence, whereabouts. The detailed booking is your tax adviser's job.14
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.
- Finanzverwaltung NRW, Influencer & SteuernInfluencer & Steuern · Tax administration of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 3Leitfaden zur Besteuerung von Influencerinnen und Influencern · Hessian Ministry of Finance, as of June 2026
- § 3 Abs. 12 Satz 2 UStG§ 3 UStG – Lieferung, sonstige Leistung
- Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 2 f.Leitfaden zur Besteuerung von Influencerinnen und Influencern · Hessian Ministry of Finance, as of June 2026
- § 10 Abs. 2 Satz 2 UStG, Abschnitt 10.5 Abs. 1 UStAEUmsatzsteuer-Anwendungserlass, as of 2 June 2026 · Federal Ministry of Finance; Abschnitte 3.3, 10.5, 19.2
- Abschnitt 19.2 Abs. 2 Satz 4 UStAEUmsatzsteuer-Anwendungserlass, as of 2 June 2026 · Federal Ministry of Finance; Abschnitte 3.3, 10.5, 19.2
- Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, Leitfaden Influencer, S. 2 f.; § 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 Satz 1 EStGLeitfaden zur Besteuerung von Influencerinnen und Influencern · Hessian Ministry of Finance, as of June 2026
- Bayerisches Landesamt für Steuern, FAQ Influencer, S. 9FAQ „Ich bin Influencer – Muss ich Steuern zahlen?“ · Bavarian State Tax Office
- § 6 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 Satz 4 EStG; R 4.10 Abs. 4 Satz 5 EStR§ 6 EStG – Bewertung
- Finanzverwaltung NRW, Influencer & Steuern; § 1 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 UStG§ 1 UStG – Steuerbare Umsätze · gesetze-im-internet.de, Federal Ministry of Justice
- § 4 Abs. 5 Satz 1 Nr. 1 EStG§ 4 EStG – Gewinnbegriff
- § 3 Abs. 12 Satz 2 UStG, § 10 Abs. 2 Satz 2 UStG§ 10 UStG – Bemessungsgrundlage
- § 37b Abs. 1 und 3 EStG§ 37b EStG – Pauschalierung der Einkommensteuer bei Sachzuwendungen
- § 146 Abs. 1 Satz 1 AO§ 146 AO – Ordnungsvorschriften für die Buchführung und für Aufzeichnungen
Further sources
- Steuerguide für Influencerinnen und InfluencerMinistry of Finance of Baden-Württemberg, as of 2025
- FAQ Social-Media-Akteure (Influencer/in)Berlin Senate Department for Finance
- § 3a UStG – Ort der sonstigen Leistung
- § 19 UStG – Steuerbefreiung für Kleinunternehmer
- § 8 EStG – Einnahmen
- § 15 EStG – Einkünfte aus Gewerbebetrieb
- § 22 EStG – Arten der sonstigen Einkünfte
- § 147 AO – Ordnungsvorschriften für die Aufbewahrung von Unterlagen
- Official income tax handbook 2025, H 4.7 and R 4.10Federal Ministry of Finance
- BMF letter of 19 May 2015 on § 37b EStGBStBl I S. 468, amended by BMF letter of 28 June 2018, BStBl I S. 814; official wage tax handbook 2026, Anhang 23a
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