Influencers and bloggers have been warned they could face "significant tax penalties" from Revenue for not declaring 'freebies' from their work.

Tax experts say there is a "dearth of knowledge about tax rules and responsibilities amongst online influencers".

Taxback.com's consumer tax manager, Marian Ryan, said: "It doesn't matter if you're in full-time employment and simply making some extra money in your spare time, or if your full-time job is as an influencer - you need to declare your income."

Taxback.com said around 70% of the people it speaks to simply do not know that any clothes, cosmetics, food or other items they receive are a taxable benefit once the total value of the gifts received in a year from an individual brand exceeds €3,000.

"It's not just cash that the Revenue looks at - if a person receives more than €3,000 worth of gifts from an individual brand in a tax year, then there will be tax owing on the value of those gifts above €3,000," said Ms Ryan.

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"Failure to declare those gifts - and pay the tax due on them - could see many bloggers hit with significant tax penalties and interest".

The deadline for filing a tax return is tomorrow, and Taxback.com said that of all the self-employed sectors it deals with, the social media influencing area is the one in which it is finding the most confusion about tax obligations.

A recurring point of confusion surrounds the area of "gifts" from brands and businesses that are sent to online practitioners. Ms Ryan said the best advice is to "declare everything".

"Any payment a blogger receives from operating a blog counts as income and is thus taxable," she added.

"This includes payments for sponsored content, banner ads on your blog, and income from any seminars or workshops you may hold.

"When it comes to clothes, cosmetics, jewellery and travel, that ceiling can be reached relatively quickly."