Rules and ethics
Three HMRC records a UK creator should keep before quoting media kit rates
Media kit creator rates need three HMRC record sets: income, expenses and VAT, plus the trading allowance and Making Tax Digital rules that shape what you quote.
What to take away
- A media kit creator quoting rates needs three record sets: income records, expense records and VAT records if registered.
- Income records cover every brand deal, platform payout, affiliate commission and gifted item, with the invoice and the date the money landed.
- Expense records need receipts and a clear note of whether each cost is wholly and exclusively for the creative business.
- The trading allowance lets you deduct a flat amount instead of itemising expenses, but you lose the ability to claim those costs.
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax moves quarterly updates into software, so your rate card needs to survive a digital audit trail.
- Check whether you need to file at all before you publish a rate, because a media kit quote is an implied claim about your turnover.
A rate on a media kit is a number you will have to defend. HMRC does not ask for your rate card, but it does ask for the records behind it.
Three sets matter: what came in, what went out, and what VAT you charged or reclaimed. Each one has its own retention rule and its own level of detail.
This piece names every record type, the trading allowance position and the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax change, then gives you a checklist to finish before the next rate goes live.
On a creator portfolio site, the media kit is where those numbers live. The records below are what make a quoted rate credible when a brand checks your past work, your audience proof and your commercial terms. Keep the same income, expense and VAT trail behind every portfolio entry, so your rate card and your case studies agree.
Use your portfolio tools to store the campaign, invoice reference and deliverables next to the public case study. That way the private record and the public media kit tell one story, and the rate you publish has a source you can show.
The income records HMRC expects before you quote a rate
Income records are the first thing an enquiry asks for. For a UK creator these are rarely a single salary figure. They arrive as brand invoices, platform payouts, affiliate statements, gifted products and occasionally cash.
Income records HMRC expects
- Amount of each payment
- Date of each payment
- Source of each payment
- Nature of each payment
- Gifted product at market value
HMRC expects records that show the amount, the date, the source and the nature of each payment. A bank statement alone is weak evidence if it shows a lump sum from an agency covering three campaigns.
The published rules sit in HM Revenue & Customs - GOV.UK, which is the hub for Self Assessment, VAT and record-keeping guidance.
What counts as trading income
If you are self-employed as a creator, taxable trading income includes sponsored post fees, video production work and UGC. It also covers appearance fees, affiliate commission and ad revenue share.
Royalties from licensed content count too. So does a commission on a product sold through your link, even when the platform pays it months later.
Gifted product is the record most creators miss. If a brand sends a coat worth several hundred pounds in exchange for a post, the market value of that coat is normally trading income. Record it at the value you would have charged, not at zero.
How to structure the record
Keep one row per payment, not one row per client. A single agency can pay you for several campaigns in one transfer, and you need to split them.
Use a simple ledger with these columns:
| Column | What goes in it | Why HMRC cares |
|---|---|---|
| Date received | The date cleared funds hit the account | Sets the tax year |
| Payer | Brand, agency or platform legal name | Identifies the counterparty |
| Campaign or invoice number | Your own reference | Ties to the contract |
| Gross amount | Before any fees | Matches the invoice |
| Platform or agency fee | Deduction taken | Explains the net figure |
| Net amount | What you banked | Matches the statement |
| Gifted value | Market value of goods or services | Catches non-cash income |
| Currency | Sterling or foreign | Handles exchange differences |
Foreign payments need a conversion note. If a US platform pays in dollars, record the sterling value on the date of receipt and keep the rate you used.
Contracts and platform statements
A contract is not a tax record on its own, but it proves the terms behind the number. Keep the signed agreement, the brief and the final invoice together.
Platform dashboards change. Export a monthly statement as a PDF or CSV rather than relying on the live view. If a platform closes your account, the dashboard goes with it.
For creators in Greater London, the North West and Scotland the pattern is the same: high deal volume, small average value, and a paper trail that fragments across email, agency portals and platform back ends. Consolidate monthly.
If you want a blank structure with VAT fields and due dates already laid out, use this auditable blank budget as the starting frame.
Your media kit rate implies a level of business activity. The Competition and Markets Authority expects paid partnerships to be disclosed, and the Advertising Standards Authority enforces the CAP Code on recognisability. Those obligations sit alongside your tax records, not instead of them.
The expense records that support a media kit rate
Expenses reduce the profit your rate has to cover. Each claim needs a receipt and a reason.
Expenses that pass or fail
Usually allowable
- Equipment
- Cameras, mics, lighting
- Software
- Editing, scheduling, invoicing
- Travel
- Business shoot trips
- Home costs
- Defensible proportion
Often disallowed
- Equipment
- Everyday clothing
- Software
- Client entertainment
- Travel
- Mixed personal travel
- Home costs
- Phone used by family
HMRC's test is whether a cost is incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade. That is a stricter test than "useful for content".
Costs that usually pass
- Equipment bought for production, such as cameras, microphones, lighting and computers.
- Software subscriptions used to edit, schedule or invoice.
- Props and set materials bought specifically for a shoot.
- Travel to a shoot or event, where the trip is for the business.
- Accountancy fees, insurance and professional memberships.
- A proportion of home costs if you work from home, calculated on a defensible basis.
Costs that often fail
Ordinary clothing worn on camera is a common failure. Everyday clothing is dual purpose. A costume bought for a specific production is different.
Personal travel mixed with a shoot needs apportionment. So does a phone contract used for both business and family.
Entertainment of clients is generally not allowable for the self-employed. Keep it out of the ledger rather than arguing later.
The record itself
A receipt photo in a folder is not a record until it is linked to a purpose. Log the supplier, date, amount, category and the campaign it served.
Keep digital copies. Thermal receipts fade, and an unreadable receipt is a disallowed expense.
Creators in the West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber often run a mix of studio hire and home production. Studio invoices are clean. Home costs need a consistent method applied every year.
The costs a media kit budget tends to miss are the renewals, the reshoot and the recovery time. Those are real costs, and they belong in your expense records if you want the rate to hold. This piece on hidden costs sets out the ones that quietly eat a quote.
The VAT records required once registered
VAT changes what you record and what you quote. The VAT registration threshold is £90,000, tested on a rolling twelve month basis, so a strong quarter can push you over.
What a VAT record must show
- Your VAT number on every invoice
- Time of supply
- Net amount, VAT rate, VAT charged
- Gross total
- Customer name and address
Once registered, you must charge VAT on most UK sales, keep digital records and file returns through compatible software. The digital record-keeping rules that affect invoicing and rate cards are set out in Charge, reclaim and record VAT: Charging VAT - GOV.UK.
What a VAT record must show
- Your VAT number on every invoice you issue.
- The time of supply, which is usually the invoice date or the payment date.
- The net amount, the VAT rate and the VAT charged.
- The gross total.
- The customer's name and address for business customers.
Input tax on purchases
You can normally reclaim VAT on business purchases if you hold a valid VAT invoice. A till receipt is not enough for most claims.
If you buy equipment used partly for personal purposes, apportion the claim and record the method.
A media kit rate quoted to a UK brand is normally VAT exclusive unless you say otherwise. If you quote a round number and then add VAT, the brand pays more than the headline.
Decide before you publish whether your rates are inclusive or exclusive, and state it on the page. This is where scope, currency and VAT need settling before a quote becomes a budget.
Flat rate and margin schemes
Some creators use the Flat Rate Scheme, which simplifies records but restricts input tax recovery on most purchases. Others work with goods and may use margin schemes.
Neither removes the need for digital records. Both change the numbers, so the rate card has to reflect the scheme you are actually on.
Worked example: £1,200 sponsored video
These are illustrative figures. A creator quotes £1,200 plus VAT for a sponsored video. VAT at 20% adds £240, so the brand pays £1,440. The creator records £1,200 as income and £240 as output tax.
Allowable expenses for the job are £150 props, £40 software and £30 travel, so £220 in total. The expense figures are net of any reclaimable VAT. Profit before tax is £980.
If the creator claims the £1,000 trading allowance instead, taxable profit is £200, because £1,200 minus £1,000 is £200. The allowance gives the lower figure in this example.
The £1,200 rate has to cover the £220 costs and the tax on the profit.
How the trading allowance changes what you must record
The trading allowance is £1,000 a year, a flat annual amount you can deduct from trading income instead of deducting actual expenses. It is simple and it is often the wrong choice.
Trading allowance or actual expenses
Are actual allowable expenses higher than the allowance?
Deduct actual expenses
Claim the trading allowance
How the choice works
You compare two figures: your actual allowable expenses, and the allowance. You take the one that gives the lower taxable profit, but you cannot take both.
If your expenses are higher than the allowance, claiming the allowance costs you money. If your expenses are low and your income is modest, it saves admin.
What you lose
Claiming the allowance means you cannot deduct your expenses for that source of income. You also cannot create a trading loss.
That matters for a creator buying equipment in a lean year. The loss would otherwise carry forward against future profits.
What it does not change
It does not remove the need to keep income records. You still need to know your gross figures and to show how you arrived at the allowance claim.
It also does not exempt you from VAT rules, which run on their own track.
The partial relief trap
There is a separate allowance for property and a separate one for trading. They are not interchangeable, and a creator with both a trade and rental income needs to keep the two sets of records apart.
If your expenses are close to the allowance, run both calculations before filing. The difference can be material, and it feeds directly into the profit a rate has to cover.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and its effect on quoted rates
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax changes how often you report, not what counts as income. Sole traders and landlords above the qualifying income threshold move to quarterly updates through compatible software. The threshold is £50,000 from April 2026, and £30,000 from April 2027.
Making Tax Digital quarterly cycle
- Keep digital records as you go
- Send quarterly updates via software
- Submit a final declaration
- Reconcile quarters against statements
The step-by-step process for creator records is set out in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords: step by step - GOV.UK.
What changes in practice
- Keep digital records of income and expenses as you go, not in a January scramble.
- Send quarterly updates through software that HMRC recognises.
- Submit a final declaration at the end of the year, replacing the old return process for those in scope.
- Reconcile the quarters against your bank and platform statements before the final declaration.
Quarterly reporting exposes gaps fast. If a campaign spans a quarter boundary, the software needs the right date, and the date drives the period.
Creators with irregular income may find that a large deal lands in one quarter and distorts the picture. That is a cash timing issue, not a tax change, but it affects how you plan.
Software and record quality
Spreadsheets can qualify if they meet the digital record requirements and link to filing software. A scanned receipt in a folder does not.
The practical effect is that your records have to be clean enough to export. A messy ledger becomes a quarterly problem instead of an annual one.
Getting help
Self Assessment still has its own quirks, and the guidance for completing it is collected in Get help filling in your Self Assessment tax return - GOV.UK. Use it alongside your software help, not instead of it.
A records checklist to complete before publishing rates
Work through this before the next rate card goes live. Each item is something an enquiry could ask you to produce.
Records checklist before publishing rates
- Log every payment with date and payer
- Record gifted items at market value
- Convert foreign income with rate and date
- Export and store platform statements
- Link digital receipts to business purpose
- Document the trading allowance decision
- State whether rate card includes VAT
- Every payment for the last twelve months is logged with date, payer and gross amount.
- Gifted items are recorded at market value with the campaign they relate to.
- Foreign currency income is converted with the rate and date noted.
- Platform statements are exported and stored, not left in a live dashboard.
- Expense receipts are digital, legible and linked to a business purpose.
- Home and mixed-use costs are apportioned on a written, consistent method.
- VAT status is confirmed, and invoices carry the correct number if registered.
- The rate card and the invoice template use the same VAT wording.
- The trading allowance decision is documented with the comparison behind it.
- Software is compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax if you are in scope.
Confirm you are in the system at all
Before any of this matters, confirm you need to file. The test is set out in Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return - GOV.UK, and it takes a few minutes.
Set a monthly records hour
One hour a month beats a lost weekend in January. Reconcile the ledger, file the receipts and export the statements.
Keep the rate defensible
A rate built on source-backed prices survives a bad quarter. A rate built on a guess does not.
Store records for the retention period
Keep your records for typically six years after the 31 January filing deadline. Digital storage costs little and ends the argument.
