A while ago, on Threads, I found SNL offering advice on how to deal with gifted items. She seems to believe if she mentions them in her stories she doesn’t need to disclose to the CRA. I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.
I absolutely agree. My husband lost his job last April (a year ago) and we dropped to one income with no warning. This year has been such a struggle with increasing costs and I am self-employed and just got nailed for my taxes. It's so high even the CRA agent I spoke with on the phone for another manner apologized, and once I get this paid off it will be time to start it all over again. There really is no chance to get ahead anymore unless you are wealthy.
It’s a little tricky in Canada, but for sure they have an accountant (I mean even just heading into H&R Block they can help. Here’s what I found:
“the person receiving a gift typically does not have to pay gift tax. The giver, however, will generally file a gift tax return when the gift exceeds the annual gift tax exclusion amount, which is $17,000 per recipient for 2023.”
So, companies who gift more than 17k per person (like vacays, jewelry, cars etc) typically ask for endorsement so it’s not a gift.
“If a property is gifted through a will, then you will have to pay tax upon receiving the gift. These are capital gains taxes and are based on the fair market value of the property.“
“ Income tax obligations:
Influencers can earn income through several means, including:
subscriptions to their content and social media channel(s)
advertising for other businesses
collaboration with other influencers/businesses
partnerships with other brands/influencers/businesses
sponsorships from other brands/businesses
tips from followers and social media audiences
gifts from followers and social media audiences
donations from followers and social media audiences
trips from brands and sponsors
referral codes for merchandise/goods promotion
As an influencer resident in Canada, you must report all such income (monetary and non-monetary) earned in and outside of Canada. Report and pay tax on all income earned on social media platforms as self-employment income by completing line 26000 of your income tax and benefit return and Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities.
Influencers who are not resident in Canada are subject to Canadian income tax on most Canadian-sourced income paid or credited to them during the year unless all or part of that income is exempt under a tax treaty. “
So it’s tricky but they can and do get audited. They make $ from referral codes so that’s income, and they have to declare if it’s a gift. This is why, when people send things and they don’t see it on the influencers it’s because they aren’t making money from it. And it’s not really worth their time. A lot of stuff just like any job can be written off as influencers. Companies can get in a lot of trouble if they are consistently gifting things because when they do their taxes, they cannot exceed $17,000 to one influencer and that is why a lot of times you find little circles of people who are friends who are all getting gifted from the same company because they know they can’t exceed gifts. These brands KNOW who follows the bigger influencers likely follow their friends so they hit those up too.
So when people are wondering why certain brand stop working with others, if it’s not paid and it’s just a gift to entice others to go and use discount codes etc, it is because they cannot donate to one person. They have to get some kind of reciprocal transaction happening.
The circle of friends and gifting is so interesting because this is exactly what happens with the RHWC - they are all getting the exact same stuff at the exact same time! How does it work with her unlimited Tim Hortons card? Does she have to declare all the purchases made with the magic card as gifts?
ETA - I’m sure she funnels through her company and that’s why she has one. I really want to know if The Little Pink Cottage is a separate company
Tim Hortons is under the Burger King umbrella, which are on the BDS list. Any influencer that is pushing these products is actively contributing to funding genocide.People barely able to afford things are taking it to the streets di help strangers across the world, and influencers are pushing genocide complicit and genocide funding companies. I honestly don’t care what any of these influencers look like, I am literally here to help at least one or two people see how environmentally destructive, and how ignorant they are about atrocities all over the globe. They can salad laugh and podcast all they want to take care of their mental health, and I’ll be over here calling them out for destroying the environment (with multiple flights each month, wasteful products), funding the genocide happening in Palestine, and buying new tech products contributing to modern slave labour in Congo. I hope a few influencers do stumble upon these pages, and rather than be so self-centered and self-absorbed they only focus on how people are criticizing their looks (which they really shouldn’t) they see that there are people who are furious for the lack of care they have for real world issues.