Do Yoga Content Creators Need to Pay Tax on Gifts in the UK?

If you create content online, such as reviews, sponsored posts, TikToks, Instagram reels, or YouTube videos, you must include the value of any products, gifts, or services you receive from brands when you calculate your income. In the UK, HMRC treats these items as taxable income, even if you weren’t paid money for the post.

This includes:

• gifted products you promote
• PR packages you keep
• free services or experiences (e.g., treatments, hotel stays)
• items provided “in exchange for content”
• affiliate income and advertising revenue

Anything you receive as part of your content creation work counts towards your total income for the tax year.

Example

A brand paid you £700 last year to create product review videos.

They also sent you products worth £300, which you kept.

You earned another £200 from adverts placed on your videos.

Your total income from content creation is:

**£700 (paid work)

• £300 (value of gifted items)
• £200 (ad revenue)
• = £1,200 total income**

Because this is over the £1,000 trading allowance, you must tell HMRC and may need to register for Self Assessment.

Even if you mainly received gifts, you must declare the value if your total income goes over £1,000.

You can check if you need to register for Self Assessment here.