Brand Deal Recordkeeping Checklist for Creators and Influencers

Most brand deals move through five stages. The records you keep at each stage are what make tax season — and audit season — easier.

A deal can stall at any stage. The recordkeeping habit is what stops a stalled deal from easy to lose track of.

• Brand name (the company actually paying)
• Agency name if you are working through one
• Brand or agency contact (name and email)
• Campaign name
• Date the deal was agreed
• Posting platform(s) and any cross-posting allowed

The total value of a brand deal is rarely just the cash fee. Track every component so the deal record reflects what was actually exchanged.

• Agreed fee (in original currency)
• Currency
• Payment terms (Net 30, Net 60, on receipt, etc.)
• Invoice date
• Invoice number
• Due date
• Payment date (when it actually arrived)
• Net amount received (after fees, currency conversion)
• Whether the payment was matched to the deal in your records

Many brand deals include product on top of (or instead of) a fee. Track it as part of the same deal:

• Item name and description
• Estimated fair market value
• Date received
• Whether content was required
• Whether the item was kept, returned, gifted or sold

More on the tax side in are gifted products taxable for Canadian creators and influencers?

• What you agreed to deliver (number and type of posts, videos, stories)
• Platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Twitch, Substack, podcast)
• Posting dates and any boost windows
• Required disclosures (Instagram paid partnership label, TikTok branded content tag, YouTube paid promotion disclosure)
• Usage rights (whitelisting, paid ads, exclusivity)
• Exclusivity terms (any competitors you cannot work with, and for how long)
• Approval process and turnaround time

Usage rights are what the brand can do with your content beyond your organic post. They are usually priced separately from the original fee and matter at tax time because they can be a significant portion of the deal.

• Organic only — brand can repost from your handle
• Whitelisting — brand can run paid ads from your handle (Instagram, TikTok)
• Spark Ads (TikTok) — brand boosts your post under your handle
• Brand-channel use — brand can re-upload to their own page or website
• Term of use — usually 30, 60, 90 days, 6 or 12 months; sometimes perpetual
• Paid media spend cap — sometimes the brand commits to a media spend cap

Get usage rights in writing in the contract, with the term and the channels listed. The uplift on the original fee for usage rights can be 25–100%+ depending on scope.

An exclusivity clause means you cannot work with competing brands during a defined window. That is real income lost if the window is long, so it should be priced into the deal.

• Category exclusivity (e.g., no other dating apps for 6 months)
• Brand-specific exclusivity (no named competitors)
• Length of exclusivity window (start and end dates)
• Geographic exclusivity (Canada-only vs global)
• Whether previously-agreed deals are grandfathered in

The status of every brand deal at any given moment should be one of:

• Agreed (no invoice yet)
• Invoiced (waiting on payment)
• Partially paid
• Paid in full
• Overdue
• Cancelled

Keeping the status current is what stops the “wait, did this brand actually pay?” moment three months later.

Most brands and agencies want a proper invoice before paying. A creator invoice should include:

• Your legal name (or business name) and address
• Brand or agency name being billed
• Invoice number (unique, sequential)
• Issue date and due date
• Description of the deliverables
• Currency and total amount
• GST/HST line if you are registered (with rate and your GST/HST number)
• Payment instructions (bank info, PayPal, Wise, Stripe link)

• Brand says invoice was 'lost' — resend with read receipt; CC a second contact
• Agency cites their own Net 60/90 — bake their delay into your due date when you accept the deal
• Wire arrived short — usually intermediary bank fees; ask for a top-up or absorb it as a fee expense
• USD payment converted at a bad rate — record both gross USD and net CAD
• Brand wants to pay in product instead of cash — that is barter, see the gifted products guide
• Payment stuck in PayPal hold — note the date, follow up, and chase if it goes past the standard hold window

• Contract or signed agreement file
• Campaign brief from the brand
• Email confirming agreed fee and deliverables
• Screenshots of final posts (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.)
• Performance summary if the brand requested one
• Invoice file you sent
• Any disclosure compliance notes (Ad Standards Canada, FTC for US brands)

• Whether GST/HST was charged on the invoice
• If charged, the amount and rate
• Province of the brand or agency (for place-of-supply)
• Currency and CAD equivalent
• Whether the brand is non-resident (US/EU brand) — generally no GST/HST charged

Background on when GST/HST applies is in GST/HST for Canadian creators. The expense side of brand deals (and what you can deduct against the income) is in common tax deductions for content creators.

When the payment arrives, link it back to the deal. This is what gives you a clean audit trail:

• Income transaction date and amount
• Bank, PayPal or Stripe deposit it landed in
• Match to the original invoice number
• Note any underpayment, overpayment or fee deduction

Agencies sit between you and the brand. They can be helpful (clear briefs, timely payments) or painful (slower payments, smaller margins after their cut). Either way:

• Confirm in writing who is paying you (the agency or the brand)
• Invoice the entity that is paying — match the legal name on the contract
• Track both the agency and the underlying brand in your record
• Note the agency's payment terms separately from the brand's
• Watch for usage rights handed to the brand via the agency contract

Cadence has a Deals view that mirrors this checklist. Each deal record holds the brand, campaign, fee, gifted product, deliverables, invoice status, contract file and the linked income transaction.

The dashboard surfaces what needs attention — unpaid invoices, overdue payments, deals with no contract, deals missing GST/HST notes — so the recordkeeping happens during the year instead of all at once at tax time.