Taxation of donations for influencers and contentcreators

The development of streaming platforms and the growing popularity of online content creators have made donations(donejty) a significant element of digital monetization. They are voluntary payments from viewers; however,their legal and tax classification raises uncertainties. This article analyzes the characteristic features of donations,their interactive and reciprocal nature, as well as the consequences of such classification. It examines the positionsof foreign legal doctrine representatives and the case law of Polish tax authorities and administrative courts.The article highlights the evolution of tax interpretations by the Polish tax authority (DKIS), which initially treateddonations as gifts but later recognized them as income subject to personal income tax (PIT), depending on thenature of the creator’s activities. It also explores the potential classification of donations as income from nonagriculturalbusiness activity. The analysis concludes that the prevailing approach excludes treating donationsas gifts and emphasizes the need to adjust tax regulations to reflect the specific characteristics of the digitalcreator economy