Influencers and promotional partnerships
You might need to declare and pay tax on your internet and social media earnings, depending on the extent of your business activities. The information on this page applies to those who are not self-employed, or who don’t have a business yet.
If you collaborate with companies on the internet or in social media, you might need to declare and pay tax on your earnings. This applies regardless of whether the compensation is in the form of products, services or money. You might need to declare and pay tax on salary and commission payments, donations and payments for advertising space.
Products, services and gifts
You need to pay tax if you:
- keep goods that you’ve received – regardless of whether or not you engage in promotional collaboration efforts
- use a service (such as travel) or subscription that you’ve been offered – regardless of whether or not you engage in promotional collaboration efforts
- give away, sell, keep, or hold a lottery for, products or services that you have received as gifts.
If you have been offered a personal discount or promotional code as compensation, it will only become taxable when you use it. You must pay tax on the difference between the discounted price and the market price.
The taxable value of a product or service is based on its market value, i.e. the price you would have paid if you had purchased it without a discount.
You don’t need to pay tax on:
- a product you return or don’t collect
- a service you don’t use.
Press giveaways and borrowed products
You need to pay tax if you:
- keep products you have received from a company but have not ordered, such as press giveaways
You don’t need to pay tax if you:
- keep relatively low-value promotional items that companies also give away to the general public
You don’t normally need to pay tax on products that you borrow, provided that both of the following requirements have been fulfilled:
- You and your client have agreed that you will include these products in your social media posts, mention them for promotional purposes, or give them exposure in other contexts that provide advertising and goodwill value.
- You borrow products for occasional and limited periods only. You do not borrow similar products on a recurring basis.
You must document the products you have borrowed and describe their use.
If you borrow an expensive product or a high-value asset such as an apartment or vehicle, the regulations on tax-exempt professional equipment are not usually applicable. The usual rules on taxation of benefits apply instead, such as the rules on housing benefit or car benefit.
Donations, salary and commission
You have to pay tax on:
- all types of compensation you receive through your social media and internet activities, regardless of whether or not you collaborate with companies
- voluntary donations made to you by followers of your streaming channel, blog, video blog or similar
- fixed or variable salary payments and commission.
When your collaboration partner pays you a percentage of the sales you generate, this is known as your commission.
Advertisements, tracking links and sharing of discount codes
You need to pay tax on compensation you receive for:
- your social media and internet activities, regardless of whether or not you collaborate with companies
- sales of advertising space on the internet or on your social media channels
- tracking links
- sharing of discount codes
It makes no difference whether your compensation is fixed or commission based.
Here’s how to declare and pay tax on your earnings
You must pay tax on your earnings – regardless of whether you are paid a fixed or variable salary, commission, or compensation in the form of products or services.
You only need to declare your income if you earn more than a certain threshold amount each year. This amount can vary from year to year. You must calculate your total income – not only the income you have received through your collaboration efforts on the internet or social media. You must include salary payments for other employment, pension payments and earnings from your own business, for example.
The threshold amount for 2023 was SEK 22,208. For 2024 it was SEK 24,237.
Unsure what to do?
If you need help finding out whether you have to declare your income from gigs, temporary work and short-term assignments, and how to do this, please use our guide.
Guide – declare income from services and gigs (in Swedish)
Document your earnings
You need to document your earnings in order to ensure that you pay the correct amount of tax. Keep all the documents required to declare your income:
- all written agreements relating to your earnings
- details of products and services you have received, and their market value
- receipts for your expenses
Make a record of all these documents. Remember to save all documentation (including electronic documentation) in a secure place for at least seven years.
Reporting the value of your earnings in a tax return
If your client or collaboration partner has paid you money, they must report this compensation to the Swedish Tax Agency. When you receive compensation in the form of services or products, your client must also report this to the Swedish Tax Agency. Your client must also send you a payslip or payment notice. This rule applies regardless of whether you have a verbal or written agreement.
Check current details of your income (in Swedish)
If your client has provided the Swedish Tax Agency with details of all compensation payments they have made to you, the total corresponding value will be prefilled in box 1.1 (“Salary, benefits, sickness benefit, etc”) in your income tax return.
If the Swedish Tax Agency has not been provided with details of a payment, you must enter the relevant amount in box 1.1. You must also inform the Swedish Tax Agency of the payer’s name and the date of payment. You can provide these details under “Other information” (Övriga upplysningar”) in your tax return.
If you have received compensation for something other than employment or an assignment, you must report the compensation amount as income from a hobby, in the T2 annexe. Examples of such compensation include donations you receive from followers, and commission payments made to you when your followers click on tracking links that you include in your content.
Self-employed contributions
You might need to pay social security contributions if you make a profit from your business activities. These are called self-employed contributions.
Find out more about self-employed contributions and the amount that you have to pay:
Self-employed contributions on income from employment (in Swedish)
You can claim deductions for certain costs
You are entitled to claim deductions for costs you’ve incurred directly in connection to your assignments and earnings. Please note: you cannot claim deductions for private living costs, such as internet and mobile phone subscription costs.
Hobbies, business ownership and self-employment
If you are engaged in an activity that is not for profit, or that generates only very limited profits, we consider this to be a hobby activity. However, some clients and collaboration partners only wish to hire contractors who are F-tax approved: i.e., those running a business. This is one of the reasons why influencers and others who pay A-tax become affiliated with self-employment companies. You can find out more about this on our website.
What are business activities? (in Swedish)
Working on a self-employed basis (in Swedish)
- Are you producing content about the Swedish Tax Agency?
If you create content about the Swedish Tax Agency for your channels, you are welcome to contact us if you need help or support. More information about this is available
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