I was recently invited to join Amazon Vine Voice. So far it is a great deal, but I will have to pay taxes on the items I receive to review. From watching a few YouTube videos the general consensus is that I will be paying roughly 20% of the item value on taxes. Which isn't bad if I receive $20K of stuff and only have to pay $2000 in tax. Anyone else on here Amazon Vine Voice? I would welcome some solid information.

20% of 20000 is 4000, is the 20% you mentioned a typo and to be 10%?

No you are correct. I had an early figure of $10K I was working with before. The way I need to look at it is that if and item has a tax value of $35 it really means I'm paying $7 for it (at the end of the tax year). This keeps me from going hog wild on everything. At the Silver level I'm allowed to choose 3 items (below $100 each) a day.

Talk with your Accountant.

I'm not a member of vine, but to my understanding of the program
this is taxable income equal to the value of the item.

Meaning the taxes is going to depend on your tax bracket.

I will. I will only have December tax due this year, but I planned on talking to my accountant when I file to prepare for 2023.

I have found videos of a lady who is a vine voice reviewer where she is low income and on a few programs. She is concerned that the added tax income will bump her off these programs and is taking some questionable interpretations of what she defines as 'income'. There are no deductions allowed for this kind of income (tax value free item); which is sad as I wanted to write off my voice over software/licensed material fee's for my video reviews.

I'll pay the tax. Bumping up my tax bracket by $20K isn't that large of a jump.

I did a little research and found that the IRS has raised the range for tax brackets due to the very high inflation. Even with $20K added to my income it will not put me in a higher tax bracket, so it will be at 22% that I need to prepare for the tax season next year.

Today I ordered a Pair of Pickle Paddles. I hear they are very popular in the States.

I completed my taxes and the Amazon 1099 was considered a private business. So I have to pay the social security and medicare for that earned income from Amazon. I paid $232 Federal last week and my 1099 had a $1500 income for 2022.

My accountant stated I can deduct anything I use to do my reviews (laptop/phone/etc) for this tax year as I expect to have at least $10K on my next 1099. But I think they will still get me each year for the social security and medicare. It's still worth it.

Is it a one-man business?

Yes, if it's a business you will have to pay the self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare) which is 15%

Tom

Yep, just waiting to be upgraded to Gold level in June. Then I won't have a $ limit. With Silver I am limited to $100 or less. I can even use/expense my puppets to do video reviews.

Speaking of puppets, I use Amazon Vine to buy clothes/costumes for them. A 3T or 4T fits most.

My first Puppet video was rejected by Amazon, but I did go way over the top to see what they would accept.

I've ordered 144 items from Amazon Vine. I've had 2 items as 'undeliverable-ish'. One was a mask I ordered when I first joined (battered torn package arrive with nothing inside) which Amazon reordered (which never came), and a nice poker chip set. The poker chip set was my fault. I was excited when I saw it and quickly clicked on it. Since I work overseas, the Middle East Customs block certain items (even from U.S. Military mail) such as 'gambling equipment'. So it made it here'ish and was turned around by customs. It's been a couple of months and I finally decided to contact Amazon about removing the orders. Below is the chat record.

Chat started at 9:07

18 minutes later (I know) a human is available to talk to me.

Stephanie enters the scene:

Stephanie: Hi,Animated Puppets . I hope you're doing great today and I sincerely apologize if you are not able to receive your item, I will surely check this for you so no worries! 9:25 AM

Animated Puppets: No longer worried about receiving the item, just want it removed from purchase history.9:26 AM

Stephanie: Alright one moment please,Animate Puppets, since upon checking here, the item is returning to us already, and for this item, I can process a refund already, would that be okay? 9:27 AM

This is the normal (good) response I receive from Amazon. Quick to find a solution to leave their customers happy. I cannot accept a refund for something I have not spent money on.

Animated Puppets: It was a Amazon Vine Review item so there is no refund. It is still listed as an item I need to review which off sets my review percentage. I just want the item deleted.
IE: I'm a Silver level reviewer with a 92% reviewer rating. Since I cannot review an item I never received it reduces my overall review rating. Rating is important as I expect to be upgraded to Gold next month.9:30 AM

Stephanie: One moment please.
I apologize Animate Puppets, may I please know more about your concern? You do not want a refund for the item that you did not receive? 9:33 AM

Animated Puppets: Ok, I receive 'free' items to review since I am a Amazon Vine reviewer. Amazon assigns a tax value to the 'free' items, which I file each year with my tax accountant. I did not pay anything in advance for the poker set (or other Vine items) so there is no purchase to refund.9:35 AM

Without warning, Stephanie leaves the scene.

Nivesh has joined and will be ready to chat in just a minute.
Nivesh |Customer Service

This actually made me happy. We all know help support has been outsourced to India and other countries, and I was weary of 'Stephanie' the same way I get a 'John' on these chat help support centers. So when I saw Nivesh, I was all onboard with team Nivesh as he does not feel the need to hide behind an American monicker.

Navish: Hello. My name is Nivesh. I hope you are doing well.
Please allow me a moment to read the previous correspondence.
Vine reviews are subject to the same review guidelines as regular reviews (http://www.amazon.com/review-guidelines). Amazon does not edit or remove reviews based on whether the review is favorable or not.
I have raised this concern to Vine team
They shall contact you here within 24 hours9:38 AM

I start to freak out. My initial reaction is that Navish is reporting me to Amazon Vine for doing something nefarious. I have read where Amazon Vine reviewers having good ratings suddenly being dropped for unknown reasons/violations without explanation.

Animated Puppets: Hold on. 9:38 AM

Navish: sure 9:38 AM

Even this made me nervous. It's almost like Navish saying 'you want to keep your Vine status you better dance monkey!' ...or I could be projecting.

Animated Puppets: I'm not talking about a review I wrote or disagree with. I'm talking about a Vine item I did not received due to my location.9:39 AM

Navish: I understand9:39 AM

Animated Puppets: All I want is for the order to be removed so not to throw off my review percentage. No refund requested as there is nothing to refund. 9:39 AM

NavishI completely understand
The House Poker Set - Premium Poker Chip Set - 500 Pcs - Ideal for Blackjack & Casino Games - Poker Set with Aluminum Case - Texas Holdem Poker Set
I believe this is the item[/i]9:40 AM

Animated Puppets: yes Middle East customs blocked the delivery
due to it being labeled 'gambling equipment'.9:40 AM

Navish: Yes, To remove the item this needs to be raised to the Vine team
I wont have the option to remove it on my end9:41 AM

Animated Puppets: OK, just wanted to make sure you were not trying to report me for violating a rule I did not break.
That is fine. 9:41 AM

Navish: No
please do not worry 9:41 AM

Navish provides email information that I will be receiving and I'm confident they will fix the issue.

I do not think it is worth the light.

Oh, they fixed it. They normally do , but I got paranoid about being kicked off the program. June 6 is my upgrade to gold level (if they do upgrade me).

Time is money. One has to work out how much one is making an hour doing something. I do not know but it just seems to me to be a very time-consuming thing to do.

I work 70 hours a week. My normal work day consist of about 15 minutes of actual work, and the rest of the time waiting for something to break. So, I'm being paid by my current employer to write Amazon Vine reviews... and post on magic forums.

You are now my hero.

Current status Gold


Member since: 12/7/2022

Re-evaluation: 12/5/2023


Gold status perks:
Order up to 8 items per day
Order items up to any amount
You're awesome!
Keep up the great work to continue enjoying gold status benefits

Your ability to get free stuff is commendable.

Thanks. I'm now picking up costumes (3T - 4T) for my puppets and Christmas shopping for the family. I will have to order a nicer camera for my studio so that I may use it as a tax write off.