what i did, last year, is write off like someone said earlier, "just the cost to buy or create them" and i just used it towards the cost of advertising.
You should had expensed it anyways probably when you purchased it, the ink used, and the labor if you paid someone. You can not take another deduction because you now gave it away. There is just no income to report thus it comes out in the end. That is probably for a cash based accounting business rather than accural.
Yep, exactly what the shirt cost you to create. T-shirt, transfer paper/vinyl, packaging (if it was packaged), postage (if posted). Apart from inks (if used). This is calculated at the end of year financials. Just because inks you can't account on how much you can exactly print. This will come under advertising expenses.
This is what I have done in the past.
But also I don't know if every countries taxation system is the same?
if you give the shirt away you are going to need to pay sales tax on it also.
This should depend on how you account for it. If it is a zero sale to a customer, then you are responsible for collecting tax but if you write it off inventory or account for it in your advertising budget, then no tax is due as far as I know. According to the accounting books I've read, they suggest writing it off as advertising.
if you write it off in advertising.... shouldnt you be able to write off some sort of profit margin or anything else that is more than the costs of making/printing the shirt?
like if i made 50 shirts and it cost me 500 bucks (just for example)...and i gave them all out....then basically i'm out 500 bucks plus my time to create the design/run around/etc..... so there should be more to exclude from this...
i should be able to write off my time that i spend working on something.... even though i cant get paid, there should be some sort of percentage or hourly writeoff.........
I'm fairly certain you can only write off the cost of materials to produce the advertising. I read a book a while back titled Deduct It that covers these subjects very thoroughly and they produce a new edition each year to cover changes in the tax laws, you should look for this book in your local library or bookstore.
Wormil has it right! You can't charge yourself for printing your own shirts for advertising. If you did, it would have to be reported as income....which means you pay taxes.
what if you pay a designer for a design for the shirt that you give away..... so then you can write off the designer expense then too....i would believe........
If you pay someone to print the shirt for you, you should be able to write off that cost. I believe you can write off the cost if you hire a designer but I'm not certain, this would be akin to hiring an advertising agency. Some of this stuff can be tricky, I wouldn't take anyone's word over the internet at face value, consult with your accountant or at least read up on the subject.
giving out shirts..tax write off question 
