how do I report my auto surf income to the IRS?

I believe you can just report it as investment income, how much did you actually make?? If it's less than $600 it's not a big deal if you don't report it.

First off, Disclaimer: I am not a licenced tax professional and you should always check with your accountant or financial advisor when following any information you receive here or anywhere online or from someone who isnt licensed. What I am writing below is just for informational purposes only.


That being said, I know a lot of autosurfers out there take the "realized income approach."

There are a few ways you can look at this.

(Easy) First Example:
Lets say you placed $1,000 into payment processor and then bought advertising in various surfs. You then throughout the year earned rebates and cashed out. Lets say you added all your cashouts up and they totaled: $10,000 by year end. Your realized income would then be $9,000 and thats what you would report.

(Advanced) Second Example goes into a little more detail:

Record your outlay as an advertising expense.
Then record your withdrawals as profits.
Finally record your deposit and/or withdrawal fees from the program AND from the processors as expenses.

Record losses as 'theft' for the scams. (I personally don't use this approach because we are paying for a product/service when joining a surf - ADVERTISING)

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I hope this helps.

Excellent explanation, I suppose recording it as an advertising expense & withdrawals as profits would help.

It is an income earned by investing online and you must disclose it as such in your returns.