More than 5,000 Ukrainian OnlyFans models earned tens of millions of dollars and do not pay taxes on it

More than 5,000 Ukrainian models with accounts on the subscription platform OnlyFans earned $111 million from adult content between 2020 and 2022. Many of them are now involved in legal battles with the tax authorities, who have assessed them with multimillion-dollar debts.

This was revealed by the head of Ukraine’s State Tax Service, Ruslan Kravchenko, in an interview with the publication Ekonomichna Pravda.

“606 audits are ongoing, and another 346 documentary audits are planned. Taxpayers are challenging in administrative and judicial proceedings the assessed 14.5 million hryvnias (approximately 306,000 euros). The total amount of debt resulting from the audits stands at 14.7 million hryvnias (around 310,200 euros). The total income earned by these individuals amounts to $111 million,” Kravchenko stated.

According to him, in the fall of last year, as part of a tax information exchange with the United Kingdom (where Fenix International Ltd., the company that owns OnlyFans, is registered), Ukraine’s tax authorities received data on Ukrainians earning income through OnlyFans. Based on this information, the tax service began sending income declaration or tax payment requests to recipients. A total of 5,126 requests were sent out.

Out of these, 748 OnlyFans models voluntarily filed declarations and paid taxes. The declared income among them amounts to 356 million hryvnias (approximately 7.5 million euros).

However, Kravchenko declined to comment on whether filing tax declarations by OnlyFans models could lead to charges for attempting to legalize income obtained through criminal means, since the production of pornography is considered a criminal offense in Ukraine.

“I cannot comment on that because I am not authorized to conduct pre-trial investigations. I do not have the right to open a criminal case. I am not a specialist in everything. I just enforce the law,” he said.

He also added that some OnlyFans models registered as sole proprietors (FOPs) and pay the unified tax.

It is worth noting that last fall, media reported Ukraine’s first-ever exchange of financial account information with other countries.