Influencers make money posting about their lives. The taxes can get messy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Nadya Okamoto is getting married this summer and wasn’t sure if she could write off the cost of a professional photographer. The 28-year-old earns most of her income posting about her life on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, and plans to post photos of the ceremony online.

She didn’t know if any of the wedding costs would count as a business expense. “There is not a lot of separation between my life and content creation," said Okamoto, who lives in New York. Okamoto is among the influencers learning to navigate the intricacies of the tax code, with Goldman Sachs forecasting the “creator economy" will grow to nearly $500 billion globally by 2027, roughly double its size in 2023.

Like others who are self-employed, influencers pay taxes only on the money they earn after deducting work expenses. But when makeup, pets and meals play starring roles in social-media posts, figuring out what counts as a tax write-off can get messy. It’s one example of how the changing ways people work are butting up against tax rules that were established decades ago.

“If you are a real-estate agent, or an insurance broker or a freelance journalist, there’s a clear line between what’s a business expense and what’s a personal expense," said Katherine Studley, a tax consultant who works with influencers. “It’s not bleeding into your everyday life." A quarter of influencers say taxes are their top source of business stress, and nearly 25% say they’ve made tax mistakes that cost them money, according to a recent H&R Block survey. Clothes are a common area of confusion.