As of: February 25, 2024, 6:04 a.m
By: Yannick Hanke, Romina Kunze
Comments
Press
Split
If you want to make money, you have to spend money, they say.
So does a fashion influencer.
Her plan to deduct the costs of accessories from her taxes failed.
Hanover - They advertise products, reveal secret tourist spots and show how the perfect styling can be achieved: Influencers have long since become part of not only the digital bubble, but also the professional world.
According to a survey by the Private University of Göttingen in 2023, almost half of the high school graduates surveyed want to gain a foothold on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube with their own content.
And why not: according to the Munich Chamber of Industry and Commerce, digital activity could “develop into a lucrative activity over time”.
According to Indeed,
influencers with manageable followers can earn
up to 2,000 euros a month .
However, the business of professional staging doesn't always make a profit.
You often have to pay for the advertised products out of your own pocket.
An influencer from Lower Saxony would have liked to get some of these expenses back through taxes.
And the plan failed miserably.
Influencer and fashion blogger wants to deduct well-known brand clothing from taxes
It's mostly younger people who go in front of the camera and create content for platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
The content of these posts can be of a trivial nature, and some influencers even go beyond the health threshold.
However, many choose to specialize in a particular area in order to be successful.
In such videos you can often find references to “paid advertising”.
They often receive clothing or other products to display in advance.
An influencer has not settled the bill with the tax court in Lower Saxony - and is stuck with the costs for the products she purchased.
© Uli Deck/dpa/imago/Montage
However, a case that recently took place before the Lower Saxony Finance Court shows that influencers do not always receive their advertising material.
It's about a woman who has been working in this field since 2007.
She is active on popular social media platforms and also runs her own fashion and lifestyle blog on her website.
With this activity she is said to have recently earned 80,000 euros gross annually.
A considerable amount.
The problem: The influencer obviously has to bear costs because she buys many items of clothing or handbags herself in order to then present them in front of the camera.
According to a letter from the Lower Saxony Finance Court, these are products from well-known brands.
The tax office denied the influencer “business expense deduction” for purchased clothing items
The influencer, who is of course also subject to tax for her activity, did not use the products privately.
She bought clothes or handbags just for her blog.
Therefore, she wanted to claim tax deductions for her expenses for the advertised products.
Namely under the term “operating expenses”.
My news
Time change 2024: Will summer time start this weekend?
read
Man helps give birth on sidewalk - baby's mother thanks him in a special wayread
Two black holes collided so hard that they disrupted the space-time continuum
Ex-TV presenter and partner missing: police officer suspected of murdering her read
Convert dog years to human years: This is how old Bello really is - old rule of thumb is considered outdated
Dangerous insect species is spreading across Mallorca – neurotoxin can spread through the air
After the tax office's decision, it was now up to the Lower Saxony Finance Court in Hanover to decide on the influencer's case.
“The defendant tax office denied the deduction of business expenses on the grounds that all items could also be used privately by the plaintiff and that it was not possible to differentiate between the private and the business sphere,” says the tax court’s newsletter about the tax office’s decision.
The influencer's lawsuit remains unsuccessful: the tax court in Hanover also rejects tax deductions
Since there is the possibility of private use - regardless of whether it is used or not - tax consideration is excluded.
In addition, the influencer's clothing is not typical work clothing, according to the arguments of the responsible court.
The woman was unable to prove to what extent she only used the affected items of clothing professionally or privately.
Hence the conclusion of the legal authority: The profession of influencer or blogger cannot be assessed differently than other professions.
It is therefore irrelevant whether the influencer used the clothing and accessories she purchased exclusively for business purposes.
The costs therefore remain with the influencer.
An influencer from the USA also had to accept similar bad news regarding her finances;
After her divorce, her career as a promoter was over.
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at her own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
Learn more about our AI principles here
.