Carl
Level 15

Self employed

Here's how I would do this in your shoes. But don't take "my way" quite so fast. Give it time for others to post here. With your talk of "giving away" stuff, as well as a raffle of some sort, things very well may need to be treated differently for you, as there's another train of thought that tends to lead to "gambling winnings" on the raffle items. As the awarder of such winnings, I don't know how that would be handled on your tax return.

Basically, all of the times that you buy to "give away" would be inventory, and you would report it in the COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) section.

So your advertising cost would be reported as such in the business expenses section.

What you pay for prizes awarded would be reported in the COGS section.

Your time is not deductible, since the IRS can not tax time. So you can not deduct from taxable income, that which you are not taxed on in the first place.