Do I have to pay tax on OnlyFans income in Germany?
6 min read · Updated on 2026-10-26
Short answer
Yes. OnlyFans income is taxable in Germany, even though the platform is abroad and pays in dollars. Three taxes come together: income tax on your profit – in 2026 once your total taxable income exceeds the basic allowance of 12,348 euros –, VAT unless the small business scheme applies, and trade tax once profit exceeds 24,500 euros.
This article sorts out the areas that come together here and lists the thresholds that apply in 2026. It does not replace professional tax advice, and that sentence is meant seriously.
Why the tax office knows
The days when platform income flew under the radar are over. Since 2023, platforms covered by the German Platform Tax Transparency Act report the name, tax ID and earnings of their sellers to the Federal Central Tax Office. What that means for OnlyFans as a UK platform is explained in Does OnlyFans report your income to the tax office? Payouts landing on a German bank account are visible anyway. So the question is not whether the tax office finds out, but whether you are prepared when it does.
Anyone who hides income for years risks back payments with interest and, in serious cases, criminal proceedings. Anyone who works cleanly from the start rarely has trouble.
Which taxes are involved
In practice, three areas come together:
- Income tax on profit, meaning revenue minus business expenses
- Trade tax, once profit exceeds the allowance for sole traders
- VAT, depending on whether the small business scheme applies
On top of that comes health insurance: full time self employed people insure themselves, and those contributions are regularly underestimated.
| Tax | Assessed on | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | profit (income minus business expenses) | from the first euro of profit |
| Trade tax | trading profit | once profit exceeds the sole-trader allowance |
| VAT | turnover | unless the small business scheme applies |
| Health insurance | income | if self-employment is your main occupation |
The last row is not a tax and is listed anyway, because day to day it behaves like one: it arrives late, it is assessed on income, and it is routinely underestimated.
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Go to the applicationThe thresholds for 2026
| Threshold | Amount in 2026 | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Basic tax-free allowance | 12,348 euros | no income tax on taxable income up to this amount |
| Trade tax allowance | 24,500 euros of trading profit | only the part above it counts; for creators, trading profit is usually the profit |
| Small business scheme | at most 25,000 euros turnover in the previous year and 100,000 euros in the current year | no VAT on your invoices, but no input VAT deduction either |
The basic allowance applies to your entire income, not to OnlyFans alone: if you also have a job, your salary has usually used it up already. Trade tax sounds worse for sole traders than it usually is. Up to four times the tax base amount is credited against income tax; if your municipality's multiplier is 400 percent or less, it usually evens out almost completely.
Income tax and business registration
Creating content with the intent to earn is, as a rule, a commercial activity. That means registering a business, completing the tax registration questionnaire, and filing an annual profit statement.
What gets taxed is profit, not revenue. Business expenses reduce it: equipment, props, a share of your internet and phone costs, software, travel to shoots. What counts is when the money arrives, so payouts around the turn of the year deserve a close look.
VAT and the small business scheme
Below certain revenue thresholds you can operate as a small business. You then charge no VAT, but in return you give up the right to deduct input VAT.
Since 2025 the limits are at most 25,000 euros of turnover in the previous year and at most 100,000 euros in the current year. The second one is strict: the very sale that takes you over it is already taxed normally, not just the following year. The details are in the small business rule for creators. Services billed to a foreign platform also follow special rules that often require a VAT identification number. Do not rely on forum posts from three years ago here; rely on the current advice of your tax advisor.
The habit that saves you
Taxes arrive with a delay. In the first year money flows in and nothing is due, in the second year the assessment and the advance payments arrive together. That is exactly when many people get into trouble, because the money is already spent.
The solution is unspectacular: a separate account that receives a fixed share of every payout the moment it lands, and that is used for nothing else. Your tax advisor can work out which share fits your situation. What income tax comes to on typical amounts is shown in the worked examples for 2026.
What to keep from day one
Every payout statement from the platform, bank statements, receipts for equipment and software, records of exchange rates. A digital filing system sorted by month is enough, it just has to be complete. Reconstructing records afterwards is expensive and nerve wracking.
If you are employed on the side
Then your self employed income is added to your salary and can raise the tax rate on your total income. Health insurance usually keeps running through your job as long as the self employment stays part time, but the thresholds for that are their own checkpoints.
A look into your employment contract is also worth it: some contracts require side activities to be reported.
If you would rather not face this alone
We work with tax advisors who know digital income and foreign platforms, and we guide creators through setting up the structure, from registration to the first tax return. In a first call we sort out what applies in your case.
Sources
- Section 15 EStG — income from a trade or business
- Section 32a EStG — income tax scale with the basic allowance
- Section 35 EStG — trade tax credited against income tax
- Section 11 GewStG — the 24,500 euro allowance for sole traders
- Section 19 UStG — small business rule — the 25,000 and 100,000 euro limits since 2025
- Section 14 GewO — notifying a trade
- ELSTER: questionnaire for tax registration — how registration with the tax office actually happens
- Federal Central Tax Office: VAT identification number
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