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Creator Write-Offs: What Holds Up If the IRS Asks

· By Winnie Jayne

Ask a group of creators what they can write off, and someone will say “everything, it’s content.” It’s one of the most repeated tax tips online, and it’s usually half the story.

If you earn from YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, podcasts, brand deals, or subscription platforms like Patreon and OnlyFans, here’s how deductions actually work: the test every expense has to pass, which write-offs are clear, which get questioned, and what to keep so you can back them up.

A write-off lowers your taxable income. It doesn’t make the purchase free. Spending a dollar to save thirty cents still leaves you seventy cents short.

The question to ask about any expense is whether it qualifies and whether you could back it up if the IRS asked. Every section below comes back to that.

This guide is for U.S. creators running their own businesses.

1. The test every expense has to pass

A business expense has to be ordinary and necessary. Ordinary means it’s common and accepted in your line of work. Necessary means it’s helpful and appropriate for your business. It doesn’t have to be required.

Plenty of business costs pass this test, but personal expenses don’t become deductible because they show up in your content. Your haircut and your vacation are still personal, even if they end up on camera.

These rules assume you’re running a business with a profit motive. Earning some money from content doesn’t, by itself, make an activity a business.

When something is used for both business and personal life, only the business share counts. A phone you use 60% for the business is 60% deductible, not 100%.

Every deduction also needs proof: records showing what you bought, when, what it cost, and why it was for the business. A card statement alone often doesn’t show enough. Section 5 covers what to keep.

2. Write-offs that are usually clear

These usually need little explanation, as long as they’re for the business:

One catch on platform fees: the income you report isn’t a choice between the full amount and what landed in your account. It depends on how the platform pays you. When a platform collects payments from your fans or customers and keeps a cut, the full amount is generally your income and the cut is a deductible fee. When a platform pays you a share of revenue it earned, like ad revenue, that share is generally your income, with no separate fee to deduct. Tax forms don’t settle it, since some show earnings before the platform’s cut and some after. Match your platform statements and tax forms to your books, count each fee only once, and be ready to explain any difference between your return and what the IRS was told.

For equipment, timing matters. To start deducting it this year, it generally has to be ready and available for business use by December 31. Ordering or paying for it isn’t enough. How much you can deduct depends on the rules for that item and your business-use percentage. And if you pay editors or assistants, you may need to send them a Form 1099-NEC. Year-End Tax Moves for Creators covers both.

3. Write-offs you split with personal use

These are deductible, but only the part you use for the business.

Phone and internet. Deduct the business percentage, and know how you got it. A percentage based on a typical month you actually tracked holds up better than a round number you can’t explain. Update it if your use changes.

Your car. Trips to shoot locations, brand meetings, or prop suppliers can count as business miles. Driving from home to a regular workplace is commuting, and it doesn’t. If your home office qualifies as your principal place of business, trips from home to other work locations generally aren’t commuting.

You may be able to use the standard mileage rate or actual costs, depending on the car and what you’ve used before. Either way, you need a mileage log: the date, where you went, why, and the miles, plus your total miles for the year (start and end odometer readings work). A log kept as you go holds up far better than one rebuilt in April. If you use actual costs, keep those receipts too.

Your home. You don’t need a separate room. One common way to qualify is a clearly defined area you use regularly and only for the business, as your principal place of business. A home office used for the business’s admin work, like email, scheduling, and bookkeeping, can qualify even if you film elsewhere, as long as you have no other fixed location where you do substantial admin or management work for the business.

The area has to be used only for business, though it doesn’t have to be a whole room. A dedicated desk corner can work, but a couch you film on and also watch TV from won’t. You can use the simplified method ($5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet) or figure the business share of your actual rent or mortgage interest, utilities, and insurance.

4. Write-offs that get questioned

These are the write-offs creators most often get wrong, usually because of advice they’ve seen online. Each item below starts with the common assumption, followed by the facts.

Clothing and costumes

The assumption: if you only wear it on camera, it’s a write-off.

The facts: not wearing it off camera isn’t enough. Business clothing generally has to be required for the work and unsuitable for everyday wear. Costumes and character pieces that wouldn’t work as everyday clothes are a much stronger case. If you’re not sure, keep the receipt and ask before you claim it.

Hair, makeup, and nails

The assumption: you have to look good for content, so it’s business.

The facts: routine haircuts, nails, and everyday cosmetics are generally personal, even when your appearance matters to the business. Specialized theatrical or special-effects makeup may qualify when it’s genuinely for the production. Keep the details and have borderline claims reviewed.

The gym

The assumption: fitness creators can deduct the gym.

The facts: a regular membership is usually personal, even for fitness creators, because staying fit benefits you whether you film or not. Athletic club dues also have their own specific restriction. Paying a gym or studio specifically to film there, separate from a membership, is different. That’s a location fee.

Trips where you filmed

The assumption: if you post from the trip, it’s a business trip.

The facts: the main purpose of the trip decides it. For travel within the U.S., if the trip was mainly for business, getting there and back is deductible, plus your business costs while there. Extra personal days aren’t. If the trip was mainly a vacation, filming on it doesn’t change that. The travel isn’t deductible, though costs directly tied to the business at your destination can be. Trips outside the U.S. have their own rules. Travel deductions also depend on being away from your tax home, which isn’t always the same as where you live.

Ask yourself: would you have gone if there were no content to make? Keep an itinerary that shows what you did each day, along with the receipts.

Meals

The assumption: you talked about content over dinner, so dinner is a write-off.

The facts: a business meal is generally 50% deductible when you or an employee eat with a business contact, like a brand rep you’re talking through a campaign with, and the cost isn’t lavish. Meals on an overnight business trip are generally 50% deductible too. Your everyday meals aren’t.

Entertainment, like taking a business contact to a concert or game, is generally not deductible, even if you talk business. Some costs, like admission for genuine review work, may be treated differently. Posting about an outing doesn’t make the ticket deductible.

Food creators

The assumption: if it’s in the video, the groceries are a write-off.

The facts: ingredients bought for recipe testing or a shoot can be a production cost, separate from your own meals. Your household groceries don’t become deductible because some of them end up on camera. Buy production ingredients separately, or mark them on the receipt, and note which recipe or video they were for. Have purchases that served both purposes reviewed.

A family kitchen used for everyday cooking won’t meet the exclusive-use rule for a home office. So you generally can’t claim a home office deduction for that kitchen’s share of rent, utilities, or a remodel, even if you film there every day. A dedicated studio kitchen used only for the business can qualify.

Cookware you also use for family meals is mixed use, so only the business share counts. Props bought for shoots and used only for shoots, like backdrops, linens, and serving pieces, generally count.

Ordinary personal restaurant meals aren’t deductible. Meals bought for genuine review work need a business purpose and are generally subject to the 50% limit. Get advice before treating restaurant visits as a regular deduction.

Gifts and PR

The assumption: PR packages are free, so there’s nothing to report.

The facts: products you receive in exchange for a post are generally income at their fair market value, the same as if you’d been paid in cash. Unsolicited packages need a closer look too, since a package with no written posting requirement isn’t automatically tax-free. Keep a record of what you received, its value, and any messages about it. If you report a product as income and then use it in the business, like a light you keep using on shoots, it can be deducted like equipment you bought.

Gifts you give for business, like a thank-you to a brand contact, are deductible up to $25 per person per year.

Paying your kids

The assumption: put your kids on payroll and their pay is a write-off.

The facts: this works when it’s done properly. Your child has to do actual work for the business, the pay has to be reasonable for that work, and you need records: what they did, when, and proof you actually paid them. When your child works as an employee, it runs through payroll, with a W-2.

If your business is a sole proprietorship, or a partnership owned only by the child’s parents, wages to a child under 18 aren’t subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes. That break doesn’t apply if the business is an S corp or other corporation.

If your kids appear in your content, there’s a separate, non-tax issue. Some states, beginning with Illinois in July 2024, require qualifying creators to set aside a share of earnings from content featuring minors, often in a trust. Who’s covered and the thresholds vary, so check the laws that apply to you before featuring your kids in monetized content.

The Augusta rule

The assumption: rent your home to your business for 14 days and the rent is tax-free.

The facts: if a home that qualifies as your residence is rented for fewer than 15 days in total during the year, that rent is generally not taxable income. Count every rental day, not only days rented to your business. You can’t deduct expenses because of that rental, but deductions you’d get anyway, like mortgage interest and property taxes, follow their usual rules.

For the business to get a deduction, there has to be a separate business paying you, like an S corp. A sole proprietor can’t rent to themselves, and a single-member LLC that isn’t taxed separately doesn’t change that. The rent has to match what a comparable space would actually charge, the business has to use your home for a business purpose on those days, like a team meeting or a shoot, and you need the paperwork: a rental agreement, comparable rates for a similar space and use, proof the rent was actually paid, and what happened each day.

It’s legitimate when it’s set up with fair rent and complete records. Without those, the deduction can be disallowed.

5. What to keep

Records help you support deductions that qualify. For every expense, keep:

Some expenses need more:

A separate business bank account and card make all of this easier. When business and personal spending run through one account, it’s hard to show what was business.

How long to keep them: generally at least three years after you file (or after the due date, if you filed early), and longer in some cases. Keep equipment purchase and depreciation records until you sell or get rid of the equipment, then until the retention period for that year’s return runs out. Employment-tax records, if you pay your kids or anyone else, need at least four years after the tax is due or paid, whichever is later. Other payroll rules may require longer.

6. As profit grows, planning matters more than receipts

Once your profit is higher, a few decisions can matter as much as tracking individual expenses:

Each of these depends on your numbers. Year-End Tax Moves for Creators covers what to decide before December 31, including equipment timing, and which deadlines run into next year.

Your write-off checklist

If you want help

Every engagement starts with my Creator Tax Review. You get a ballpark of this year’s taxes, what to set aside from each payout, a look at your most recent return for anything missed, a review of your IRS account with your authorization, and the tax-saving options worth exploring for your situation. It comes as a written report with your next steps in order and an optional follow-up call.

Full-Service Plan clients have their books kept current each month, so expenses get sorted as they come in and anything questionable gets asked about then, not at tax time.

No judgment about how you earn or how far behind you are.

Request a tax review. Use whatever name you’d like me to call you. Please don’t send tax documents through the website form. If we work together, I’ll send you a secure way to share them.

This article is general information about U.S. federal taxes, not advice for your situation. Tax rules change, state rules can differ, and whether an expense is deductible depends on your facts.

IRS sources

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