Адвокат моделей OnlyFans Леся Михаленко, до клієнток якої нещодавно завітали представники БЕБ, передбачає ризик того, що ці обшуки можуть стати лише першою хвилею звинувачень проти контент-мейкерів різних платформ і жанрів.
OnlyFans models' lawyer Lesya Mykhailenko, whose clients were recently visited by BEB representatives, foresees the risk that these searches could be just the first wave of accusations against content makers across platforms and genres.
After all, as LIGA.net writes in an article on this topic, All these cases are linked by a common contradiction between Ukrainian legislation and foreign practice of paying for content.
«There is no analogue of our individual entrepreneurs anywhere in the world. There are many self-employed individuals who can accept payments on private cards. And when our authors write to platforms: please, make it so that we can accept payments on business accounts, they are told: either register as an individual or do not register at all,» Mykhalenko explains the situation.
The lawyer believes that OnlyFans models could be just the first target of tax and law enforcement inspections regarding tax payments for income from foreign services. In the future, their attention may shift to many self-employed people — from Bolt drivers, sellers on Amazon and Etsy to photographers and videographers.
«Of course, the earnings are lower there, but I know that good photographers can earn from $1 to $5 thousand on stock photos,» the lawyer argues.
Mykhailenko said that girls began to contact her asking for legal advice, and she consulted about 40 models via video chat.
According to the lawyer, the searches were preceded by the fact that in September the State Tax Service received data on Ukrainian content makers OnlyFans, and after that the tax service began sending them «letters of happiness» asking them to pay taxes.
Before the consultations, Mikhalenko read the advice of accountants on how to pay taxes to models after receiving a letter from the State Tax Service. They boiled down to the fact that it is worth paying personal income tax for previous periods. If desired, in the future to register as an individual entrepreneur (FOP) of the third group of the simplified taxation system.
«Some of the girls went to the DPS on their own. They were told that no one would touch them. They said that we would not pass on this information. Some tax offices even gave them tips and helped them with how to file a tax return. For example, they advised them to first pay the tax and then file the tax return. So that they would not incur a tax debt and would not have to pay a fine on the tax amount,» says Mikhalenko.
But it was after this that BEB representatives came to search the two models who had paid the largest amounts of taxes.
According to Lesya Mikhalenko, adult content creators work both for themselves and through agencies. To register on OnlyFans, agencies use the data of one of the models, because an account can only be created for one individual. The activities of such agencies, as well as self-employed models, are illegal from the point of view of current Ukrainian legislation.
It is worth noting that the suspects are not charged with crimes under Article 301 of the Criminal Code, i.e. pornography. They are charged with Articles 212 (tax evasion) and 209 (money laundering) of the code.
«The BEB and our law enforcement agencies in general have the same schemes — if there was a person, there would be an article. Article 209 is the legalization of funds obtained by criminal means. In the eyes of our valiant law enforcement officers, it looks like this: you paid taxes and thereby committed a completed crime under Article 301,» the lawyer explains.
Another charge against the «agency» and the OnlyFans models in the case is the use of fintech services to evade taxes. According to the court ruling, the money was received by a «group of individuals» through «Revolut banking services, Paxum and Skrill electronic wallets, and Wise, an online international money transfer system with direct currency conversion at a non-fixed exchange rate.»
Such a long chain may be related not only to the fact that the suspects wanted to evade taxes or hide their activities in the porn industry. Today, there are practically no legal mechanisms for individual entrepreneurs to withdraw funds earned on some foreign online platforms. Many of them charge payment for content exclusively to the bank card of an individual. According to Mikhalenko, such rules apply not only to OnlyFans, but also to TikTok, Etsy and some other services.
This means that the content author will be able to pay taxes only as an individual and at significantly higher taxes. He will pay 37% of the effective rate on his income, which combines 22% of the single social contribution (SSC), as well as 18% personal income tax and 5% corporate income tax. At the same time, an individual entrepreneur in the third group will pay only 6%.
«If I were in the girls' shoes and received their income, I would leave Ukraine. Despite all my patriotism and volunteer work,» the lawyer comments.
As dev.ua previously reported, BEB detectives received information about all Ukrainian OnlyFans users, which means that all creators of «strawberry content» are threatened with searches.
