Tax Prep for OnlyFans Creators

Founded in 2016 as a content subscription service, OnlyFans eventually became the world’s biggest hub for independent creators of adult content. Currently, the website has over 2 million registered content producers generating income with a massive fan base.

In this article, you will find the essentials of tax prep for content creators on OnlyFans.

OnlyFans Creators vs. Tax Obligations – What You Need to Know

OnlyFans works as a “paywall” between creators and fans avid for exclusive content. Subscribers pay directly to creators to unlock access to exclusive content. As content creators get paid directly, OnlyFans retains a percentage of the earned amount in the form of fees.

When someone has an active account and earns money through a fan base on OnlyFans, that content creator is not considered one of the platform’s employees for tax purposes. Accordingly, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) treats OnlyFans creators as small business owners.

The tax obligations applied to OnlyFans creators are the same applied to regular sole proprietors. In addition to income tax, they must also pay a self-employment tax.

Instead of receiving IRS Form W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement), OnlyFans creators must file Form 1099 (Nonemployee Compensation & Independent Contractors) and state the total amount made on the platform during the year.

What Estimated Taxes Should OnlyFans Creators Expect to File?

Given the fact that taxes are not discounted directly from the amount paid through the OnlyFans payment processing system, content creators must pay the due tax amount by themselves. The best approach is to work with an experienced CPA to ensure full tax compliance.

The taxes applied to OnlyFans professionals are due quarterly on January 15th, April 15th, June 15th, and September 15th. Before filing tax returns with IRS, content creators must fill out IRS Form W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) to obtain a TIN.

It is perfectly possible to file tax returns as a sole proprietor using a personal name and social security number, but many OnlyFans creators prefer to rely on a limited liability company (LLC) or corporate entity to run their content-based businesses.

Creating an LLC or corporation for tax purposes as an OnlyFans creator can be an excellent strategy depending on your case, which you can identify by consulting an expert CPA.

What Are the Deductions Available to OnlyFans Creators?

As small business owners, OnlyFans content creators incur a broad range of expenses to record, edit, fine-tune, and deliver interesting content to a demanding fan base of subscribers.

A good tax-saving strategy can help you save a significant amount of money when filing your tax returns through a list of write-offs available to OnlyFans creators. Essentially, all expenses that are “ordinary” and “necessary” under IRS standards are deductible.

The first expenses to deduct include OnlyFans fees, commissions, bank charges, and other financial operational costs. Expenses with recording equipment (cell phones, professional cameras, etc.), computers, editing services, photography, and other technical factors are also part of this list.

As a small business owner, an independent content creator on OnlyFans will need an office to operate – whether it is a home office or commercial space. In such cases, it is possible to deduct office supplies, home office expenses, etc.

It is also possible to deduct costs with advertising, costumes, makeup and hair styling, beauty supplies, dry cleaning, adult toys, wigs, and other elements necessary to a successful operation on OnlyFans.