Recently, Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy indignantHe wrote that beautiful Ukrainian ladies earn millions of dollars on the OnlyFans platform and do not share their earnings from activities prohibited in Ukraine with the state. Then he wrote that the tax authorities received information about Ukrainians who sell content on this platform.
And now Ukrainian models working on OnlyFans have started receiving massive letters from the State Tax Service demanding that they pay taxes on their income from this platform. They are ready to pay taxes, but fear criminal prosecution, so they want to leave Ukraine.
How much do you earn on OnlyFans
Forbes journalists talked to OnlyFans models who spoke about the state of affairs in the Ukrainian adult content creation industry. For example, model Yevhenia earned about $50 thousand on the platform in 2023. Another model, Maria, earns up to $1500 per month on the service and received a letter from the tax office demanding to pay taxes. According to her, the girls share information with each other, and such letters are sent by the thousands.
«I know about the thousands of letters that the State Tax Service sent to models. Out of fear of being prosecuted, some want to flee the country,” Maria said.
The models point to the absurdity of the situation. The state requires them to pay taxes, but for legalizing income «we can be put behind bars».
«The biggest fear is working in Ukraine»,” says OnlyFans model Daryna, who has been working on the platform since 2021. Her earnings range from $1500 to $4000 per month.
Responsibility
For the production and distribution of porn, Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine provides for liability in the form of a substantial fine, arrest for up to 6 months, or restraint of liberty for up to 3 years. For repeat offenses, the penalty is up to 7 years in prison. Lawyers and models point out that Ukrainian law is vague about where eroticism ends and porn begins.
«You don’t know at what point you started doing something illegal – there is no clear framework», says model Diana, who earned about $25 thousand from OnlyFans in a year.
In order not to draw attention to their activities, Ukrainian models do not withdraw funds to a Ukrainian card through the VISA Direct Transfer option, but use third-party services or special agencies. However, these disguises did not work, and the Ukrainian tax authorities started sending models «happy letters» with demands to pay taxes on foreign income on OnlyFans. The tax service received information about the income of Ukrainian women on the British service through information exchange. According to Danylo Hetmantsev, the State Tax Service initiated a request to OnlyFans on its own. Hetmantsev added that OnlyFans is only the first time the State Tax Service has received information about Ukrainians’ income from abroad.
Taxes and the budget
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that between 2020 and 2022, about 5,000 Ukrainians earned $123 million from OnlyFans. From this income, the models would have to pay 18% personal income tax and 1.5% military duty, a total of about $24 million.
The OnlyFans service itself will also pay the so-called «Google» tax in Ukraine – $1.27 million in 2023, Danylo Hetmantsev wrote. The number of Ukrainian accounts on the service is increasing on average three times a year.
«It is absurd that the state requires authors of sexual content to work officially, as if it were a legitimate business», says Mikhail Yudin, a partner at Axon Partners law firm.
In 7 months of 2024, 2300 criminal cases for pornography were opened in Ukraine, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office. This is 27% more than in 2023, Opendatabot analyzed.
The letter from the State Tax Service only mentioned the source of income, the OnlyFans platform, and that the tax must be paid within 15 days. Some girls who dared to pay the taxes received subpoenas for distributing porn, Maria and Daryna say, citing messages from two different OnlyFans groups of Ukrainian models on Telegram.
«Knowing the turnover of the models on OnlyFans, I realize that we will replenish the state budget with huge amounts of money»,” says Diana.
Source: Forbes
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