OnlyFans Taxes in Germany 2026: Income Tax, VAT, Trade Tax

OnlyFans income is subject to German income tax if you live in Germany, normally as business income under § 15 EStG; trade tax applies once your trade income exceeds the €24,500 allowance (§ 11 GewStG). VAT on what fans pay is owed by the platform, not by you (§ 3(11a) UStG, CJEU C-695/20 Fenix). If you have not declared past income, the tax office can go back up to ten years (§ 169(2) AO).

Which taxes apply to OnlyFans income

The same tax rules apply to you as to any other self-employed person. The kind of content you create makes no difference. Three taxes need to be distinguished:

• Income tax (Einkommensteuer): You pay tax on your profit, which is your payouts minus business expenses. As a German resident, this covers worldwide income, even though the platform is based abroad. The activity is usually a trade (Gewerbe). Recognition as a freelance artistic activity is rare for platform content.

• Trade tax (Gewerbesteuer): Due when your trade income exceeds €24,500 a year. Under § 35 EStG, four times the trade tax base amount is credited against your income tax, capped at the trade tax actually payable. At average municipal rates, this largely offsets the trade tax.

• VAT (Umsatzsteuer): OnlyFans is run by Fenix International Limited, a UK company. Under EU rules the platform is treated as supplying the content to fans and owes VAT on what they pay. Your own supply to the UK company is not taxable in Germany (§ 3a(2) UStG).

"No VAT" does not mean "no tax". Income tax, and possibly trade tax, are due as soon as you make a taxable profit.

Key figures and deadlines for 2026

OnlyFans payouts do not count towards total turnover under § 19 UStG, because they are not taxable in Germany. Deals with German brands or sales to customers in Germany do count.

VAT and the Fenix judgment

On 28 February 2023, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the EU ruled in the case Fenix International Limited v HMRC (C-695/20). Fenix runs OnlyFans. The UK tax authority had charged VAT on the full amount fans paid, not just on the platform's 20% commission. Fenix argued that the underlying EU rule, Article 9a of Implementing Regulation 282/2011, was invalid.

The court disagreed. Article 9a is valid. A platform that authorises the charge to the fan, approves the supply or sets the general terms is treated as acting in its own name. This presumption cannot be rebutted by contract. Germany has the same rule in § 3(11a) UStG.

For you, this means:

1. You supply your content to Fenix, a business based in the UK.

2. Fenix supplies the content to the fans and owes VAT on their payments.

3. Your supply is located in the UK and is not taxable in Germany. You do not charge German VAT, and the payouts do not use up your small business limit.

Because the UK is not an EU country, there is no EC Sales List for these payouts. If you are VAT-registered for other income, you report OnlyFans payouts in your VAT return as non-taxable supplies. More on platform VAT in VAT for creators in Germany and in OnlyFans and the Fenix judgment (in German).

Getting set up: registration, Steuernummer, bookkeeping

If you are starting out or have not registered yet, take these steps in this order:

1. Register a business (Gewerbeanmeldung) with your town's trade office. A neutral description such as "creation and distribution of digital content" is normally sufficient. See registering as a self-employed creator.

2. Complete the tax registration questionnaire (Fragebogen zur steuerlichen Erfassung) in ELSTER, the tax office's online portal. You estimate turnover and profit and decide on the small business regulation. The tax office then sends you a tax number (Steuernummer). This is different from your personal tax ID (Steuer-ID) and from a VAT ID (USt-IdNr.).

3. Keep records: monthly payout statements from the platform, bank statements and receipts for all expenses.

4. Record business expenses: camera, lighting, software, props, a home office or a share of internet costs can be deductible if they are used for the business.

5. Work out your profit: usually with a cash-based income statement (Anlage EÜR) filed with your income tax return.

6. Plan for prepayments: After your first assessment, the tax office sets quarterly income tax prepayments, often on top of the back payment for the previous year.

Who finds out about your work

Many creators hesitate to register because they do not want others to know. The legal position:

• Tax office: Everything you tell the tax office is protected by tax secrecy (§ 30 AO). It may not, in principle, pass your details to your employer, landlord or family.

• Tax advisor: Tax advisors are bound by professional confidentiality (§ 57(1) StBerG).

• Trade office: Your name, business address and registered activity may be made publicly available (§ 14(5) GewO). The data is also passed to bodies such as the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the tax office.

A stage name does not replace registration.

Worked example: €60,000 in payouts in 2026

Example: A single creator in Cologne with no other income receives €60,000 in payouts in 2026, after the platform fee. Her business expenses are €12,000. Special expenses, church tax and trade tax add-backs are left out; profit equals taxable income.

That is about 22% of profit, or roughly €872 a month to set aside. No VAT is due on the payouts. Cologne's multiplier of 475% is above 400%, so €616.88 of trade tax is not offset by the credit. If you set nothing aside in your first year, you often pay for two years at once in the following year: the back payment and the first prepayments. You can test other figures with the trade tax calculator (in German).

Undeclared past years: correction or voluntary disclosure

Many creators start without registering and only realise later that they should have filed returns. Which route applies depends on fault. The line is hard to draw and must be assessed before anything is sent to the tax office.

• No fault: If you filed a return and later realise it was incomplete, you must notify the tax office without delay and correct it (§ 153 AO).

• Gross negligence (leichtfertig): This is an administrative offence with a fine of up to €50,000 (§ 378 AO). A correction avoids the fine if no proceedings have been opened and you pay the tax on time. The limitation period is five years.

• Intent: Knowingly not declaring income is tax evasion under § 370 AO, including by simply doing nothing. Only a voluntary disclosure (Selbstanzeige) under § 371 AO avoids punishment. It must cover all non-time-barred offences for one tax type, at least those of the last ten calendar years.

A voluntary disclosure is blocked, for example, once an audit order has been issued, proceedings have been opened or the offence has already been discovered. If the evaded tax exceeds €25,000 per offence, prosecution is only dropped against an additional payment (§ 398a AO). An incomplete disclosure is invalid but still reveals the facts. Do not send anything until all years, platforms and tax types are covered. More in undeclared OnlyFans income (in German).

Special cases

• Side income next to a job: OnlyFans income is declared in addition to your salary and raises the tax rate on your total income. A return is generally required once side income exceeds €410 a year (§ 46(2) No. 1 EStG).

• Agency or management: Agency commissions are business expenses. If the agency is in another EU country, you owe German VAT on its invoice under reverse charge (§ 13b UStG), even as a small business.

• Other platforms and your own website: The Fenix logic only applies if the platform sets the terms. Sales through your own website are your own supplies with German VAT unless you use the small business regulation. See the small business regulation explained.

• Platform reporting: Under the German Platform Tax Transparency Act (PStTG), platforms report "personal services" requested by a user. Content provided independently of such a request is not a personal service (§ 5(3) PStTG). Whether data reaches the tax office has no effect on whether tax is due.

• Moving abroad: You remain taxable in Germany until you give up both your home and your habitual residence here.

Common mistakes

• Not registering a business: The tax office then often learns of the activity from third parties, and the question of intent comes up sooner.

• Paying 19% VAT on payouts: The supply to Fenix is not taxable in Germany.

• Counting payouts towards the small business limit: This leads to unnecessary VAT registration, and a voluntary waiver binds you for five years (§ 19(3) UStG).

• Not setting money aside: Back payment and prepayments hit at the same time in the first year.

• Booking private costs as business expenses: Clothing, cosmetics or gym fees are only deductible if used almost exclusively for the business, which is rarely provable.

• Writing a voluntary disclosure yourself: If one year, platform or tax type is missing, it is invalid, and the facts are still known.

• Waiting for the limitation period to run out: With evasion it is ten years, and if no return was filed, it starts up to three years later (§ 170(2) AO).

CAPSIVERA is a tax advisory firm in Cologne specialising in content creators, crafts and building services. For an overview of all creator taxes, see taxes for content creators in Germany.