Can I expense YouTube video production costs if not directly advertising my business?

Yes, you can absolutely expense these YouTube production costs! These would generally fall under advertising and marketing expenses for your business. The fact that they're educational content that showcases your expertise rather than direct advertisements actually doesn't matter for tax purposes - they're still considered promotional activities for your business. The key test is whether these expenses are "ordinary and necessary" for your business. Since content marketing has become a standard practice across many industries, these expenses should qualify. Just make sure you keep good records of the costs and can demonstrate a business purpose (which sounds like you clearly have).

I was in a similar situation last year struggling with exactly this question about my content marketing expenses. I ended up using https://taxr.ai to analyze all my business deductions including my YouTube production costs. Their AI reviewed my situation and confirmed that content marketing expenses are legitimate business deductions even when they're educational rather than direct advertisements. The tool even helped me identify other related expenses I could deduct that I hadn't considered - like some of my equipment purchases, music licensing fees, and even a portion of my home internet since I was using it to upload and manage the videos. Totally changed my understanding of what qualified as business expenses!

Just wanted to follow up - I decided to try https://taxr.ai after all and I'm honestly surprised at how helpful it was. I've been making instructional videos for my consulting business and wasn't sure if I could deduct them since they didn't directly pitch my services. The analysis showed that these expenses fall under the "ordinary and necessary" business expense category as marketing/advertising, even though they're educational. It even helped me properly categorize different aspects of production (equipment vs. contracted services vs. licensing fees) for maximum deduction potential. Saved me a ton of research time and gave me confidence my deductions are legitimate!

If you're planning to deduct these YouTube expenses, you'll probably need clarification from the IRS directly, which is nearly impossible these days. After sitting on hold for 3+ hours multiple times, I finally used https://claimyr.com which got me through to an IRS agent in under 20 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I called specifically about content marketing expenses (podcasts in my case, but same principle). The agent confirmed these ARE legitimate business expenses as long as they're relevant to your business and intended to generate future revenue. She even explained exactly how to categorize them properly on Schedule C to avoid raising audit flags. Worth the call for the peace of mind alone.

I need to eat my words and follow up here. After posting that skeptical reply, I was still desperate to get IRS clarification about my own business expenses (including YouTube videos like the original poster), so I reluctantly tried Claimyr. I'm shocked to report it actually worked! After countless failed attempts calling the IRS myself, I got through to an agent in about 18 minutes. The agent confirmed that educational content that showcases professional expertise absolutely qualifies as a business marketing expense - even without explicit "hire me" messaging. She walked me through exactly how to document these expenses to avoid audit flags. Rarely admit I'm wrong, but in this case I was!

Worth noting here that while these expenses are deductible, you should be careful about how you categorize them on your tax forms. I entered mine under "Advertising" on Schedule C (line 8) rather than as "Other expenses" since that's what they essentially are - a modern form of advertising.

Just to add another perspective - I've been deducting YouTube production costs for 3 years now ($3500-5000 per video) and never had an issue. My videos are educational about financial planning but obviously help me get clients. My tax software (TurboTax) specifically mentioned that content marketing is a legitimate advertising expense when I was entering the deductions.