‘Like, tag, follow and share...’ You've probably seen this kind of win action pass by on Instagram before. A win-win construction for both companies, influencers and their followers! Or are they? Because this kind of win contest is banned. You can even lose your account and your followers because of it if you don't follow the rules. And there are also tax rules attached to win contests. Together with accountant Marcel Huting, we tell you how it is and we share tips on how to set up a win campaign wisely.
Contests on Instagram
In cooperation with Huting Tax Advice & Administration
You know them: those contests on Instagram that allow you to win a great prize by liking, following an account, answering a question and/or sharing a post in your own stories. In itself, a win action is not wrong. It is a great way for a company to increase brand awareness and engagement, and for an influencer it is a nice format to put followers in the limelight by providing a prize. But requiring them to follow an account, tag people and share a post in stories is not allowed. This is against the rules of Meta, Instagram's parent company. You even risk losing your entire account and thus your accumulated following if you do it this way.
So what is allowed on Instagram?
You may set up a win, you may come up with a contest and you may even call for the post like. Requiring an account to follow, tag people and share a post in stories is allowed no be a condition of a win action on Instagram. Furthermore, it is important to indicate in the post that Instagram is not associated with this win (you can add this at the bottom of the post). If you are not aware of this, you probably have questions now. We'll go through the most important ones with you.
Help! I did set up an Instagram win campaign like this! Will I lose my account now?
We can imagine a moment of shock if in the past you have inadvertently set up a win action in that ‘wrong’ way. To reassure you: the fact that we still see this type of win action en masse is a sign to us that permanently deleting an account won't happen right away. But why take the risk when you do know now? Our experience of running win campaigns for thegreenlist.nl is that a win by the rules will also do at least as well. You have that extra engagement not at all necessary for success. You will find that enthusiastic followers still tag others uninvited to let them know about that cool prize. And sharing in stories still happens, even if it is no longer a condition. And those shares and tags are worth much more, because they are sincere!
Then another point from the AVG legislation: are you collecting e-mail addresses or other personal data for a competition? Then you have to inform the participant about what you will do with that personal data.
Tax rules involved in win campaigns on Instagram
But there is more. Because win promotions fall under the category of ‘promotional game of chance’ according to the Gaming Act, and because of this, there are additional rules attached to them as well. How exactly, read on the tax authorities' site. But some important rules are that you have clear game conditions, draw winners objectively and state the value of the product to be won in your post. And with a prize pool to be won exceeding 449 euros, gambling tax comes into play.
Of this tax rule, accountant knows Marcel Huting all off: ‘If you organise a prize draw where the prize has a value higher than 449 euros, you will have to pay 29% gambling tax on the amount to be won. If the prize has a lower value, you don't have to do anything. Of course, the rules of the promotional game of chance still apply then, regardless of the value of the prize.’
Calculation example gambling tax
Using a fictitious calculation example, Marcel explains how taxation works: ‘Suppose you are allowed to give away a laptop worth a thousand euros. On this thousand euros, the organiser (the blogger / influencer who organises the game) has to pay 29% gaming tax. To know how much you have to remit, first calculate the gross value of the laptop, because the 29% is calculated on that amount. So 1,000 / 71 x 100 = 1,408 euros (= gross value). Then you can calculate how much gaming tax you owe. In the case of the calculation example, this is 408 euros (29% of the gross value). The same goes for winning campaigns: getting everything right beforehand is better than having to make corrections afterwards. Because then you are always more expensive!’
Check out an example of a win on Instagram from @thegreenlist.nl:
For all the latest information around winning and gaming, always check Instagram's policy and the gaming authority's site.
Need more accounting tips and help?
Maybe you have been doing business for a while, or maybe your initiative is still in its infancy. Either way, with the guide for starting entrepreneurs, we would like to help you on your way with the administrative side, so you can do what you do best: make your idea a success! Because say it yourself, it's a nice idea when the administrative basics are all in order. With the help of this guide, you will have everything you need to organise your company's bookkeeping properly, learn good habits and, as a bonus, we will also share with you how you can do business a little more consciously. We got you!
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About Marcel Huting
Marcel does administration and bookkeeping for a variety of companies and individuals throughout the Netherlands. He can help you get started or take over the entire bookkeeping process from you. Find out more about Huting Tax Advice & Administration.
Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.
