**Yes, generally.** Partner-points earned through your affiliate business are remuneration with a monetary value and normally count as **business receipts (*Betriebseinnahmen*)** for German income tax. The Finance Ministry’s guidance expressly treats non-cash receipts as business income. [Official guidance, H 4.5](https://usth.bundesfinanzministerium.de/esth/2025/A-Einkommensteuergesetz/II-Einkommen-2-24b/3-Gewinn-4-7i/Paragraf-4/h-4-5-2.html)

There are two separate accounting questions:

- **Receiving the reward:** You record its euro value as business income. For an *Einnahmenüberschussrechnung* (EÜR), the relevant time is when the benefit is received. Whether that occurs when usable store credit is credited or when you receive the guitar depends on the programme’s terms. Credit already recorded as income should not be counted again when redeemed.
- **Using the guitar:** If it is for personal use, its purchase gives you no business expense deduction. If it qualifies as equipment used for your website business, its cost may be deductible, potentially through depreciation over several years. [§ 4 EStG](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__4.html), [§ 12 EStG](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__12.html), [§ 7 EStG](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__7.html)

For example, assuming the reward’s tax value is €1,000 and you use it to obtain a personal guitar, you would generally record €1,000 of business income. That increases your business profit by €1,000, before other deductible expenses; the tax payable depends on your overall taxable income. Your salaried employment does not change the reward’s classification as business income. [§ 2 EStG](https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__2.html)

The general answer is therefore clear. To determine **the year of recognition, value, and any deduction**, the useful details are the programme’s redemption rules, whether you use EÜR or balance-sheet accounting, and whether the guitar will be used privately or for the website. Keep the reward statements and guitar invoice.