It's not bartering. You are performing a service in exchange for goods. The Vine reviewer program and how we file our taxes, has been a long debated subject. Everyone has to file the way they feel best fits their tax situation. Amazon most certainly sends a 1099 NEC (Non Employee Compensation) on every Viner. It's the law. Some, I repeat, some, may file as Business or SE income. Those that do, must be very careful if they are going to claim business expenses. I wouldn't dare tell someone else how to file their tax returns, all I was stating is that for me, and most, that filing as Hobby Income is not "wrong". We are not employees. We simply are paying taxes on the ETV of the product at the time it was shipped to us. Albeit, most of us feel that ETV is over inflated greatly. I'm a stickler for rules, so I also check, double and triple check everything I do before I do it, to ensure I'm following the tax laws. My husband is Self Employed, he does handyman, remodeling, tiling, home repairs, etc, so we file a "schedule C" on him, and I file "Hobby Income" for my Vine 1099 NEC. Married filing jointly. I held off on filing our taxes last year until I felt I had enough confirmation from the legal and tax community, to move forward with filing Hobby Income. In our case, we already have to pay SE taxes on my husband, and I certainly don't want to have to double down on those SE taxes, especially if legally, Im not required to. But everyone should consult with a professional CPA on what's best for their family. All I can tell you is I've been filing as Hobby Income, ( after speaking to several IRS agents, CPA's, and veteran Viners ) and while our tax refund isn't nearly the amount it used to be (pre- Vine), we still, gratefully, receive a refund. But, we also have a dependent. We are both in our 50's, have an 11 year old daughter, I have no health insurance, am legally blind from a stroke, and my husbands income is the only income we receive. I feel , as I'm sure most veteran Viners feel, that the Amazon Vine program needs a major overhaul/re-vamping. It's not fair that we are having to pay taxes on products where the prices have been seriously over inflated. So far for tax year 2024, my ETV with Vine, is over $12,700. Ouch!! Right! Especially considering many many , I mean many of the items I received, were given an ETV that was at least 50% or higher than the actual sale price on Amazon. It's wrong, I agree. And if I wasn't so busy in life being an archaic mother to a very energetic ADHD 11 year old, and a wife to a very ADHD husband who not only does nothing to help around the house, but is a messy hoarder (I'm an OCD type A, like things to be tidy and neat), and have 6 cats and BIG German Sheprador, and a 1/2 acre property to take care of on my own, then I would take the time to do a Running file on my Vine items through the tax year, as I know some Veteran Viners do. They keep very good records simply because of the fact they've been doing it so long they know that the bottom ETV # they receive from Vine, isn't always accurate, so they keep track of their ETV by checking the product page sale price at the time of order, do a screenshot, and save it and compare it to their 1099 NEC at the end of the year. That allows them to dispute the ETV amount that is reported on their 1099. Unfortunately, I just don't have the time needed to do that. Although, if I'm going to continue to stay in the Vine program, I think it's something I really need to reconsider. Let me emphasize heavily, I do not believe for a second that Amazon is inflating our ETV amounts. I think the sellers are. I think the sellers list the Vine products at a higher ETV than they list on the product page. Their could be many reasons for this, one being the seller thinks that a higher priced item on vine, will receive a better review or more likely to receive a 4 or 5 * review because if something is listed at $289 on a vine product, we Viners may think we're getting a high quality expensive item. Plus, if you were to go check the product page on a vine item (you know, clicking on see details and then see details again, scrolling down on the product description page) often you will see that it's listed on "sale" (sell), lol, brain freeze on my grammar this morning, but anyway, often it's marked as 30% off or 50% off, so here we are paying taxes on $289 when regular Amazon customers are getting the same product for half of that, or 30% off (just using those %'s hypothetically).
So it's a very good idea to keep excellent records, if you have the means to do so.
Anyway, sorry for my very long winded response, I would just advise Viners to do what they feel most comfortable with. I'm comfortable filing as HI, I feel I've done my homework and I'm not breaking any tax laws or trying to "scam Uncle Sam", so to speak. We most likely won't get a refund this year (2024) because my husbands income hasn't changed, but my ETV has. 2023 ETV was just under $8k. My 2024 ETV is currently just over $12k. That's what I get for ordering high ticket items.
- I think going forward, I'll try to look for more $0 ETV items . Good luck to you. Only you can decide the best filing status for you and your family. Happy Holidays
