What can OnlyFans models deduct from tax in Germany?

Hardly any question comes up more often with us, and hardly any gets answered more wrongly online. The short version first: a lot is deductible, but of all things, the items closest to your own body often are not deductible at all. This article explains the logic behind that. It does not replace tax advice, and on this topic that is not a throwaway line.

The basic rule everything follows from

Deductible are expenses caused by the business. Not deductible are costs of private life, even when they happen to benefit the work. The grey zone in between is exactly what this article is about.

The question you can ask about any expense: would this expense exist without the account, or could I use the item privately just the same? The clearer the answer points to private, the worse your chances.

Why lingerie usually does not pass

The classic. The way many models think: I wear the lingerie in my content, so it is a business expense. The way the tax office thinks: lingerie is ordinary clothing that can be worn privately just the same, and for clothing, anything privately usable is generally not accepted, not even in part. Courts have confirmed this hard line for decades, even for celebrities and their stage wardrobes.

The exception is the genuine prop: a costume or set that is visibly not everyday wear, was bought exclusively for shoots and ideally lives separately from the private wardrobe. The clearer that separation is documented, the better the odds. Even then there is no guarantee.

Nails, hair, cosmetics

Here the line is stricter still. Manicures, pedicures, hairdressing and cosmetic treatments count as personal grooming and therefore as private, because you take the groomed body home after the shoot. That well kept hands matter in your content changes nothing from the tax office's point of view. Anyone who deducts these across the board risks back payments in an audit, plus uncomfortable questions about every other line item.

What is clearly deductible

The good news: the big cost items of this business are undisputed.

• Equipment: camera, the business share of your phone, lighting, tripods, storage
• Sets and props that visibly serve the shoots
• Software and subscriptions for editing, planning and admin
• Commissions, both the platform's and an agency's
• Travel costs to shoots, with receipts and a business reason
• Tax advice itself, since that too is a business expense

A dedicated workspace or a share of the rent can also qualify when a room genuinely serves content production. The requirements for that are their own checkpoints with your tax advisor.

The middle ground many people miss

Between clearly business and clearly private sit expenses that can be split cleanly, such as your phone or your home internet. Here the tax office accepts proportional deductions when the split is plausible. The difference to lingerie and cosmetics: for phone and internet the business share can be justified and measured, for your own body it cannot.

What this means for you in practice

Keep every receipt, including ones you are unsure about, and let the professional do the sorting. A receipt that gets rejected costs nothing. A deducted item that collapses in an audit costs back payments, interest and trust. And never measure the value of a purchase by the tax saving: deducting does not mean free, it only means the profit you pay tax on gets smaller.

If you would rather not sort this alone

We work with tax advisors who know this business and draw exactly these lines every day. In a first call we sort out how to set up receipts and structure from the start, so the year end filing is routine instead of a nail biter.