topic Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine in Deductions & credits

Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

mynameismynameandonlymyname — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 19:49:02 GMT

I was selected to review products through the Amazon Vine program last year. The products they send are considered compensation/income in exchange for the review. However, they do not allow us to sell or give away the items for 6 months. And some of the products are unusable and worth nothing even though they put the estimated tax value (that is inflated) on the 1099-NEC they send. The other issue is that in order to review the product, we have to use the product.

I understand we have to pay income tax on the ETV of the product. I also understand that if we claim this as self-employment income as opposed to hobby income, then we can deduct expenses. What I want to know is can we deduct the ETV of the items themselves as a business expense or loss if the product arrives damaged or unusable and had to be thrown away or disposed of? Also, if we have to use the product up in order to review it, then can we deduct the ETV as a business expense since we no longer have the product due to having to use it to perform the service of reviewing it? Also, can we claim these products as inventory if we are not using the products for personal use?

I am not in any way trying to find any loopholes. I know some Vine reviewers may be doing that. I am trying to figure out the proper way to report inventory, losses, expenses, and income related to being a Vine reviewer so that I am not paying more taxes than I should actually owe. Thanks!

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

RobertB4444 — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 19:45:05 GMT

All of the products that you are receiving from Vine are being treated as though Amazon had paid you cash and with your disposable income you chose to purchase their products.

The only way to take the products into inventory is to actively set them up for sale. Then the inventory value could be the same as the purchase value.

If you received a defective product and could not exchange it or receive a credit to your account for it then you should absolutely deduct it from your income. Create an expense for "defective product received" or something like that.

Using the product up doesn't create a tax deduction any more than wearing your clothes does. You use stuff you buy.

@mynameismynameandonlymyname

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

JayJay808 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 01:24:53 GMT

@RobertB4444 wrote:
Using the product up doesn't create a tax deduction any more than wearing your clothes does. You use stuff you buy.

Even if the full use of said product was necessary to be able to write the review? Wouldn't that mean that someone could have a loss as a result? For example, if a $10 product (as listed on the 1099NEC) is gone/used up entirely without any benefit to the reviewer and a review needs to be written, would that not mean they lost $10 of value? Basically, what I'm trying to figure out is how this would be different from other deductions. For example, if the review were to be submitted via regular mail, we'd be able to deduct the cost of the paper, printer ink, stamp, and envelope, would we not? How is this different if the use of the product was entirely for the purpose of delivering the service (writing the review)?

Another question, if I may: You mentioned taking products into inventory, putting them up for sale, and that the inventory value can then be set the same as the purchase value.

Since Amazon dictates that members of the Vine program cannot sell their item within the first 6 months of ownership, it feels reasonable to assume there is a loss in value, even more when the item was used in part for a review.

Am I correct to assume that by doing so, it means I could sell the items after 6 months at a loss, and therefore claim the loss on my return? For example, on a $10 item, I would pay the necessary income related taxes. After 6 months, I place it into inventory at a value of $10 and put it up for sale at a reduced price since it's no longer new. If I then sell the item for $5 (or even dispose of it, if it doesn't get sold), I could deduct the loss (and if sold, I'd have to pay tax over the sale price as well). Is that somewhat correct?

I'm sorry if my questions seem a bit snarky, I'm definitely not trying to be. I'm merely trying to get a good idea of what I can and cannot do.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

RobertB4444 — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 18:18:26 GMT

A lot of this depends on how you're going to enter this into your tax return. If you are entering this as hobby income as we started with then all of the income is taxable and you don't get to deduct expenses. But on the upside you are not subject to self-employment tax.

If you decided to create a business on your tax return as a self-employed reviewer then anything that you had to purchase in order to do the job would be deductible including the business portion of your internet and your laptop and any product used up in the review process.

In the case of a business where you were writing a review in exchange for money then you would deduct the product that you bought and used up in order to write that review. You would use your own money to purchase that product so you would have a deduction for buying it. In this case they just took out the middle man so you could deduct the cost of the candy bar when it is sent to you.

In the case of items not used up but resold later - you would have to take them into taxable income initially. Then they would go to inventory.

So you receive a $10 widget for review. That is ten dollars in income to you and that income has turned into $10 in unsold inventory.

Then, when you sell it, you could indeed have a gain or loss on the inventory in your store.

I would keep meticulous records if you're going to go this route. I would also make sure to note that because of that six month gap you are definitely going to have a number of products that are in your inventory and can't be sold that you will be paying taxes on at the end of the year and receiving deductions on in the following year. And whatever the income is on those products in inventory and the ones you decide to keep for personal use you will be paying self-employment tax on.

@JayJay808

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

JayJay808 — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 00:53:20 GMT

Thank you for the additional information, @RobertB4444 🙂

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

SweetPease — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 23:13:34 GMT

Remember when you tell the IRS that you have a business, you have to have a business—make a profit (3 out of 5 years, I just read somewhere as I am researching Vine taxes for myself), keep meticulous records, actually sell something or provide a service. I am going to have extra money deducted from my work taxes to help with the tax burden at the end of the year and try to stick to mostly getting things that I would be buying anyway.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

Spino — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 11:50:46 GMT

I came to this discussion via an internet search because I am an Amazon Vine reviewer. To me, as a somewhat experienced and educated small business accountant and tax preparer, Amazon is setting up a scam and we should not facilitate that by paying their taxes. Here's what I mean: By declaring the suggested retail value (or some proxy they pick) and reporting that as income to Vine reviewers, Amazon is likely taking an inappropriate deduction on their taxes. They certainly do not pay that amount, if anything, as the cost of those goods. They also provide a rather detailed set of obligations to Amazon reviewers and completely control entry and exit from the program as well as which reviews they publish.
So what is actually happening? Continued participants in the Vine program must perform ongoing services at certain levels to remain in the program, not to mention advance in "status." They are not hobbyists, but rather qualified writing professionals who have been carefully screened (based on past performance) for participation in a program. All they receive in exchange are goods of some value, with restrictions. So, while Amazon is reporting an amount of income, all that income is necessarily spent on acquiring inventory or materials required to do a job in exchange. That is cost of goods or supplies.

1) Vine reviewers should expect to file as small business owners. They are receiving income, even if it is all spent on goods required to do the job. The only reason to call it a hobby is if you're rich and don't care about the money.

2) All income from Amazon should be expensed as either supplies (which are consumed in providing the service) or cost of goods (inventory that can be resold or repurposed for personal use.)

3) Inventory has to be valued. Since by agreement with Amazon, goods must be kept for at least 6 months, there will always be some inventory unless all goods are treated as supplies. If any goods are intended to be resold, they need to be valued at the end of each tax year.

4) Even if goods are treated as supplies rather than cost of goods for resale, they still must be treated as income if they are converted to personal use. The value of these items at the time they are converted to personal use should be fairly determined. For guidelines, consider the valuation guidelines for contributions of goods. There are several alternatives presented there including such things as comparative sales and values at thrift stores.

So I would conclude the following:

1) Amazon's declared valuations on the 1099 are not likely appropriate valuations for the goods actually received (and required to be held for 6 months prior to resale or even gifting) by a small business who is not running the world's largest online retail marketplace.

2) Items converted to personal use should be valued appropriately and that is in fact taxable small business income, after expenses, that should be reported.

3) Items held as inventory for potential resale should be valued appropriately at the end of each tax year. Active participants in the Vine program who resell products received should expect to declare inventory on hand each year because of the six month obligatory holding period they agree to with Amazon. This inventory can be easily tracked though because Amazon keeps a complete record for you online (which of course would also be available to an auditor if the IRS were so inclined for any reason.) You can add the work of tracking inventory to the work of writing reviews as part of your business activity, along with your prime membership, writing tools, camera, internet connection, and so on. Of course your time itself is not an expense to the business, no matter how much of it you take to earn this paltry income from Amazon.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

Uprisinghope — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 16:14:33 GMT

We can donate to a non profit? Do we depreciate it and by how much? So if we keep a storage as an inventory.

1. We can write off the full value. Until we sell it?

2. Can we keep same product, XOX shirt. And then when updated or upgraded model comes out compare it to our aging inventory . We give a review recap on every product. If you had same product for every year do you depreciate the value. If you had five updated products. Is the tax write off the entire amount then gets depreciated each year?

Could I create a non profit e-commerce museum? And do seminars on ecommerce and other things as an education model?

Would a Foundation work better?

Thank you so much

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

user17601651056 — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 06:57:43 GMT

Just to clarify- you said all income from Amazon should be expensed. And they should either be expensed as supplies or expensed as cost of goods. So an item..such as say a Car Play system where the audio didn't work so it's unusable and unsellable (it's basically trash) would be categorized as "supplies" for expensing? Or an Airtracker that quits working a week after you receive the item would be expensed as cost of goods since it worked long enough to do the review? What about things that if you could have returned and gotten a refund/exchange if you had actually bought the item- like a pair of shoes that didn't fit- so you don't actually get any value out of and just have to store for 6 months until you can trash them/donate them?

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

Spino — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 19:07:35 GMT

@Uprisinghope Let me respond to your questions each in turn:

1) Amazon is going to declare that they paid you a certain amount. However all of that amount was actually received as merchandise samples, not cash. So you just spent that amount buying samples that you need to review. So you have income and a matching amount of expense.

Now the question is what do you do with those samples? If you sell them, you have more income. If you convert them to personal use, you have the equivalent of income. The amount of income you have if you sell them is pretty clear--and depending on your jurisdiction, you may also need to collect sales tax. If you convert them to personal use, you will need to value the items you have converted to personal use (as if you sold them) and you may also owe sales tax.

2) If you are holding the samples for resale, then they become inventory. You will need to value your inventory each year if you are reporting inventory on your Schedule C personal business return. If you do not report business income and expenses, then you are converting all the samples received into personal property. You will need to report this value, whether or not it is the same as what Amazon reported they gave you. If your valuation is different, you should have supporting documentation as to how it differs.

3) You can only donate personally to a non-profit, not from a Schedule C business. Amazon's agreement with you specifically prohibits you from accepting their products directly into a non-profit, which by definition is not owned personally. You can do business activity for reasons other than making a profit, though, and the IRS accepts that. They still want you to report business activity and pay taxes on any profit. They do not want you to report continual losses and call it a business. They consider that personal activity, sometimes referred to as a "hobby business." For instance, you could race cars, paint, or build furniture, but not do it to make money. If you do make money, though, the IRS wants it reported and then you can deduct expenses of making that money. By the same token, you can write reviews with no expectation to make money--except that when you joined the Vine program you started making "money" in the form of free samples while before that you were doing it as a "hobby."

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

Spino — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 19:22:17 GMT

@user17601651056 You receive a broken car play system from Amazon. They keep track of that and send you a 1099 at the end of the year that values that broken car play system at $100. So you have to report that $100 that they tell the IRS they paid you, but what you actually have is the broken car play system, which you value at $0. So you just suffered a loss of $100 and you want to figure out how to report that.
Here's the thing--you could keep track of every single item and what it's value is based on comparable sales or thrift sales or whatever basis you use, and include the reporting of how you value these things in your records in case you are audited. However Amazon wants you to review at least 80 items (or whatever it is) every 6 month review period and that kind of detail is probably not worth your time. So you are looking for a work saving option that the IRS would accept if audited and would not require useless work for little or no benefit. One way of doing that, which Trump made famous/infamous, is to use that value but give it a haircut.

That means that you say, "Overall, by the time I follow Amazon's rules (or whatever you are doing) I still end up with some value, though it is certainly not the retail value of products that might not even be viable and have to be kept for six months, etc. So what is it? You might make some reasonable assumptions and come up with a value expressed as a % of the Amazon retail. IRS might challenge whether your assumptions are reasonable, but they are unlikely to challenge your business choice to do this.

One Vine reviewer I know says she only reviews items she expects to sell for the value of the income taxes. I don't know her tax rate, but if it is 22% then she is saying the items she reviews are worth (on average) 22% of the originally declared value by Amazon.

You also raise the question of storage. If you pay for that storage, you can deduct that actual cost. If it is just mixed in with your personal property, the IRS is likely to say, "No, that is not an identifiable business expense." [He says as he sits in a home office cluttered with products to review and products already reviewed he needs to store someplace.]

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

Crazycohy — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 09:05:57 GMT

You are pretty spot on as to how I think about it. Taxation is two things: theft and voluntary. The Viners that pay tax on the items they receive, do so voluntarily and once you do so, setting a precedent, the IRS holds you to that. These payers also get very mean and nasty to those who see it differently and do not offer to pay taxes. I believe the 6 month rule and the inflated ETV are the factors that cause this theory to not hold water.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

KatyR1066 — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 18:28:50 GMT

Yes, but we pay for clothes with money we earned and pay SALES tax not income tax. That’s why this doesn’t make sense. They should explain it better BEFORE accepting the invite. I was told tax and since it’s a purchased item that my income didn’t pay for and we were told they are free except for the tax, of course I thought SALES tax, not income tax. We can’t spend the products we get so how is that income? We are not even supposed to give them away or sell them for at least from the time each item is purchased. I still do not see how this STUFF is income if unspent and also some unusable! I completely agree sales tax should be covered but if we have to pay both income and sales tax. This program is completely not worth it except in rare instances where you get a very expensive item you need for a fraction of the cost. And it’s extremely true that they jack up the EVA and right after you get it, you’ll see it listed for MUCH less!! That is bait and switch and false business tactics!! Why are we paying more tax on items that aren’t worth what they told us they were?? This needs to be handled in a better way! And Canadians have income tax yet they are not required to pay tax on Amazon Vine items. They are completely free!! How is that?

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

AHB84 — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 19:39:13 GMT

Would it be reasonable to adjust my ETVs for tax purposes? I just went through my 2025 download and when I compare the ETVs to retail values there are some significant differences. I've taken screenshots of everything as backup, but it's about a $3k difference in my 1099 total.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

ThomasM125 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 20:09:17 GMT

Your income from the venture should be the value you received for your services. Since you did not receive cash, it is appropriate to report the income at the fair market value of the property when you received it, regardless of what is reported to you. Just keep good records to substantiate the market values and you should be OK.

@AHB84

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

user17689381264 — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 19:59:42 GMT

I still don’t necessarily understand why it would be frowned upon/less discussed about filing this as Hobby Income. My ETV for the year was less than $600 so I’m not even going to receive my 1099 but I still believe it’s fair to at least pay some type of tax on the items I reviewed. I feel as though submitting it as business would be wrong as that I’m not a business nor do I own one and I do not have an employment contract with Amazon as an “employee”. In my case I use almost everything I reviewed (give or take some junk that gets thrown out) so I don’t look at it as an income, I look at it as an exchange or barter system rather than cash earned. From this thread I understand the general statement that Amazon is giving us money or a bank account essentially to “purchase” these products but to me if they’re giving me that freedom then isn’t it like an expense account that gets written off as a business expense? The lines as so blurred and intertwined that I feel like it could go either way depending on what I currently believe at the moment. For me it’s a hobby and if I were to get all of my items for free then there would be no ETV therefore I would not claim anything yet if I go to any listing there is a sales price so how am I avoiding taxes on those items but not others? Why are other countries or even other review sites not taxing reviewers? I’m just utterly confused as to why it’s not hobby given the questions the IRS has on their site for determining hobby vs business as well.
— just a long drawn out way to ask if it’s okay to file as a hobby not business.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

JayJay808 — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:57:59 GMT

@user17689381264 wrote:
My ETV for the year was less than $600 so I’m not even going to receive my 1099 but I still believe it’s fair to at least pay some type of tax on the items I reviewed.

It's not about fairness. The law states you need to report all income, including the income you received under the 1099 threshold. Just because Amazon doesn't need to report your income doesn't mean you do not need to report it. Also, keep in mind that if Amazon is audited, your name may still be mentioned.

@user17689381264 wrote:
I feel as though submitting it as business would be wrong as that I’m not a business nor do I own one

You don't need to own an actual business to be active in business activties. There are several reasons why this could be considered a business (see here: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/heres-how-to-tell-the-difference-between-a-hobby-and-a-business-for-tax-purposes).

@user17689381264 wrote:
I look at it as an exchange or barter system rather than cash earned.

Receiving goods in exchange for services, which is exactly what Vine is, is considered bartering. Many states in the US consider bartering a business activity, and you may even have to pay sales tax (I believe this is the case in CA, NY, and WA, possibly in more states) or general excise tax (HI), even though you didn't actually purchase the items. You may want to check with a CPA in your state to check on your specific law. Also, on a federal level, you might find this interesting, too: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc420

Please note, I am not a tax consultant. I am a Viner, like you. Not only do I believe I should file as a business based on the IRS guidelines, but also because my state (HI) requires it as they consider this both bartering and a taxable business activity. While I don't like it because of the General Excise Tax, it does allow me to write off certain things. The downside has a bit of an upside 🙂 Either way, consider talking to a CPA, even just once, so you can understand what the applicable laws are for you.

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

hereforit — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 20:11:37 GMT

So I can do this? just adjust the value to 22% of the declared value from amazon?

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

hereforit — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 20:51:46 GMT

People are saying that they essentially "zeroed" out their entire 10-99 bc they asked amazon to correct an error on their 10-99 and if they don't get a corrected 10-99 from them, they are able "per the IRS" to completely remove it from their tax liability. The entire 10-99. This came from a popular you tuber that has used this strategy 3 years in a row for her vine taxes and reports that it worked for her. OBVIOUSLY, I take it with a grain of salt.... but she showed her correspondence with them. She explained in detail. She DID say this is just what SHE DID and she doesn't advocate that everyone just jump to doing this, but she says she wanted to explain what worked for HER.

QUESTIONS:

1-A)What ARE your responsibilities if you have a 10-99 that is INCORRECT? (1-B)What does the IRS say you do about an incorrect 10-99?

2-What do you do if it's incorrect and you cannot get the issuer of the form to send you a CORRECTED 10-99 FORM?

3-A)What do you do on your taxes if at the time of filing there's something on your form that's still inside the 6 month window?

(3-B) do you act as though it's NOT bc it isn't "income" yet as it cannot be sold?

(3-C) Do you hold it and report it as "inventory"? and if so how do you value inventory that the value will only be a certain percentage of that listed value once sold? Do you just make an adjustment explaining that? Add it as a piece of paper included with your filing, or do you just have that as an explanation if you get audited?

I apologize for all the questions, but I just want some clarity so that I know which direction to go with these taxes. I DEFINITELY appreciate your time in answering our questions. It really means a lot to me particularly. So, thank you so much. -Jess

Re: Paying Taxes on Products Received to Review through Amazon Vine

JayJay808 — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 22:16:01 GMT

@hereforit wrote:
People are saying that they essentially "zeroed" out their entire 10-99 bc they asked amazon to correct an error on their 10-99 and if they don't get a corrected 10-99 from them, they are able "per the IRS" to completely remove it from their tax liability. The entire 10-99. This came from a popular you tuber that has used this strategy 3 years in a row for her vine taxes and reports that it worked for her. OBVIOUSLY, I take it with a grain of salt....

Everything for the likes was my first thought when I read that. I would indeed take it with a grain of salt. If they do this, I imagine it's a matter of time until the IRS catches up and initiates an audit.

@hereforit wrote:
1-A)What ARE your responsibilities if you have a 10-99 that is INCORRECT? (1-B)What does the IRS say you do about an incorrect 10-99?
2-What do you do if it's incorrect and you cannot get the issuer of the form to send you a CORRECTED 10-99 FORM?
3-A)What do you do on your taxes if at the time of filing there's something on your form that's still inside the 6 month window?
(3-B) do you act as though it's NOT bc it isn't "income" yet as it cannot be sold?
(3-C) Do you hold it and report it as "inventory"? and if so how do you value inventory that the value will only be a certain percentage of that listed value once sold? Do you just make an adjustment explaining that? Add it as a piece of paper included with your filing, or do you just have that as an explanation if you get audited?
I apologize for all the questions, but I just want some clarity so that I know which direction to go with these taxes. I DEFINITELY appreciate your time in answering our questions. It really means a lot to me particularly. So, thank you so much. -Jess

1a) It is my understanding that, if Amazon (or anyone else) issues you an incorrect 1099NEC, you should try to get it corrected. If they refuse (and I am aware Amazon is not doing this), then you will need to adjust it on the Schedule C. First, you enter the (incorrect) amount from the 1099NEC, and then create an expense entry that you name something like "Incorrect 1099 adjustment". Make sure to keep details about everything (emails that you contacted Amazon, for example, and records about the products and whatnot) in case the IRS contacts you about it. AFAIK, you can use Form 8275 to explain the issue and the steps you took to correct it.

1b) You can call them at [phone number removed]. It may be smart to do this before following my instructions from 1a.

2) see previous answers.

3a) The IRS does not care about the 6-month window during which you cannot sell the item. As far as the IRS is concerned, the items are in your posession and taxable. The 6-month "do not sell" rule is an Amazon rule, not IRS related.

3b) It is income, and you will have to report it. Not being able to sell it because Amazon doesn't want you to, has nothing to do with the IRS. If you do sell the item, you could do this after the 6-months timeframe, and also several years down the road, that doesn't matter to the income taxes for receiving the product from Amazon in exchange for the review service that you provide. They are different activities.

3c) Here's what I do: First, I do not sell what I receive. I feel it is too much of a hassle with too few benefits. Regardless of that, however, let go of the "it is within 6 months that I received it, and cannot sell it" idea as it will completely screw up your taxes, and as mentioned above, the IRS isn't going want this either.

Now, despite not selling anything, I do consider what I receive part of my "business" for tax purposes. The item in my business inventory for as long as I haven't reviewed it. The moment I review the item, I will consider it part of my personal inventory. This moment (when just before or just after I wrote the review) is when I check the actual price, if there are discounts or price changes, and consider its actual Fair Market Value (how much is used during the review, what is it actually selling for, does it all work, how much could I sell it for if I wanted to do so, etc). If this is lower than what Amazon says it is (and it typically is), then I will mark it on my spreadsheet and add that amount to my deductions on Schedule C. To avoid any overlap between years, and to make it easier on myself, I simply try to have everything reviewed by the end of the year (usually works for me). If this isn't possible, for example, if I receive something on Dec 31 and cannot review it until Jan 2, then I try to estimate what the value loss due to reviewing will be (or simply enter it later, but before filing taxes and consider the item to be in my personal inventory of the previous year). I do this because you're not supposed to file the value of the item in one year and take deductions on that value in the next year. The alternative solution would be to not add the ETV of that item to Schedule C in that year, and take that value (and any deductions) to the next year, but this would also mean the need to adjust the 1099NEC for both years (both the year you received the item, and the year you actually file the item), and adjusting the 1099NEC is something I want to avoid due to the increased audit risk.

As for any adjustments/deductions I make/take, I keep accurate records in a spreadsheet with a lot of information (probably more than necessary). Everything is explainable, thanks to the spreadsheet. I write comments when necessary and make sure to grab screenshots if I use the listing of the actual product for the adjustment. I do not send this with my filing, but add the totals and mention it on a single line with a short description.

Whatever you end up doing, though, the main thing is to keep records of everything you do. That way, even if you make a mistake, you are always able to explain it and likely able to work toward a solution with the IRS.

Ps. Keep in mind that I'm not a tax professional but a member of the Vine program, like you. I do not claim to know the definite answer to the questions above, but I tried to answer them as best as I could. Please make sure to do your own due diligence and/or reach out to a CPA.