Tax tips for food content creators

Turning your love of cooking, recipe creation, food photography, or restaurant discovery into income is an incredible milestone. Whether you’re filming step‑by‑step cooking videos, hosting live cook‑along streams, or reviewing local eateries, your content has turned your passion into a paycheck.

But once money starts coming in—from brands, platforms, affiliates, or your own products—the IRS stops viewing your food content as a hobby. You’re now a small business owner with tax responsibilities that matter. Read on for details!

Check out our Creator tax guide and Creator tax cheat sheet and checklist for more valuable tips.

Cooking up income with your content? You’re now a business

When your food content, TikTok channel, or YouTube cooking series generates income, the IRS may see you as self‑employed. That means taxes work differently compared to traditional employment.

Here are the big items that change:

• You must cover the 15.3% self‑employment tax (for Social Security and Medicare). You’ll pay the employee and employer halves of this tax. Don’t worry, you can deduct half as a deduction.
• You must make quarterly estimated tax payments (April 15, June 15, September 15, January 15).
• You’ll report your revenue and expenses on Schedule C.

Food creators often juggle multiple revenue sources—ad revenue, sponsored recipes, affiliate links, cookbook sales, subscription content, and more. Because this income can rise and fall throughout the year, tax planning is essential.

Thankfully, H&R Block understands creator taxes, including the specific challenges food bloggers face, and can guide you through everything from estimated taxes to maximizing deductions. Read on for details.

Brand collaborations, gifted items, and product reviews: What’s taxable?

Food creators may be given all kinds of items for content creation: ingredients, cookware, small appliances, tools, props, and more. But the tax implication of these items depends on the circumstances.

If you purchase ingredients or tools yourself

If you buy something specifically and solely for recipe development, photography, or content creation, the purchase may qualify for a deduction.

For example:

• Ingredients used in a recipe video
• A revolving cake stand used only in your baking content
• Plates, linens, or props strictly for food photography

If a product is gifted with no posting requirement

If there’s truly no expectation of content, it may not be considered taxable income. But if there’s any implied obligation—such as “we’d love for you to share this”—the IRS will likely see it as compensation.

If a brand sends you items in exchange for content

Even if no cash is involved, the fair market value of the items counts as taxable income. For example: A brand sends you a set of bowls in exchange for a video featuring them. The value of that set of bowls is income.

The bottom line: Who’s buying matters

If a brand sends you specialty cookware for free in exchange for a post, its value becomes taxable income. However, if you bought that same item to create a unique dinner for your content, it could be deductible. 

Let’s dive into deductions to understand the nuances.

Deductions for food bloggers

There are some deductions many creators can claim. See a sampling of those below or jump over to our write-offs for creators post.  

• Legal services: Incorporation fees, contracts with brands, trademark filings, etc.
• Home office space (not your kitchen): If you have a dedicated space for creating, you can deduct rent/mortgage, utilities, and internet based on square footage
• Software: Editing tools, design programs, analytics platforms
• Trade events/seminars: Tickets and travel.
• Lighting gear: Ring lights, key lights, softboxes.

Kitchen costs that could be a deduction

But what about food related content deductions? Creating mouthwatering foodie content often means investing in ingredients, kitchen tools, and even props to capture the perfect shot. Luckily, many of these costs can translate into tax deductions when tied to your blogging business.

• Ingredients: Groceries for recipe development or content—even if you eat the food afterward.
• Kitchen equipment: Blenders, mixers, gadgets, specialty pots and pans, ovens, and more.
• Props and styling: Plates, utensils, linens, décor used in shoots and videos.
• Education: Cooking classes or workshops to improve your skills.

Where things get messy with deductions for grocery, gadgets and more

For starters, if an expense isn’t tied to your content creation, it shouldn’t be claimed as a business deduction (e.g., groceries for personal meals).

The messy part is with expenses that are for both personal and business use. For example, you use your oven to bake muffins, cupcakes and more that show up in your content. But you’re also using that oven to cook everyday meals.

This is where you’d need to break out the business and personal use into percentages and only claim the percentage used for your recipe testing and content.

Remember to keep detailed records showing how purchases relate to your content (e.g., receipts for ingredients featured in a recipe post).

Getting a handle on tax time: Forms and tips

Here are a few tax forms you might expect during tax season:

• 1099‑NEC for sponsor or partner payments (if over $600)
• 1099‑K for platform payouts (if you have more than $20,000 in payments and 200 transactions)

You’ll report everything on Schedule C and file that along with Form 1040 at tax time.

Tips for getting organized

A couple simple habits can help streamline your tax prep so you’re not scrambling at tax time:

• Separate your creator finances. If you haven’t already, consider opening a separate bank account for you business so you can your track business spending.
• Save receipts and notes. Track what meals, ingredients, or tools were created for content vs. personal use.

Earn like a creator. File like a pro.

Navigating taxes as a creator can get complex. From reporting ad revenue to deducting video editing software, Block is here to make the complex easy so you can get a handle on your creator taxes.  

Get started today! File on your own or File with a tax pro.