OnlyFans creators and social media influencers who face being named on Revenue tax defaulters’ lists say they fear for their personal safety if their addresses are published.
Revenue publishes lists every three months of defaulters who have liabilities of more than €50,000, including their names and addresses.
Content creators who stream material on OnlyFans, which is often sexually explicit, and other social media figures, fear for their personal safety if Revenue publishes their home addresses, according to tax adviser, Brendan Brady.
The creators, many of whom are young women, tend to work from home. This is the address the Revenue has on its records for them, and so, if they fail to pay their taxes, it is the address published along with their names, their occupation and the tax and penalties they must pay, according to Mr Brady.
RM Block
“They are worried about their personal safety,” he said. “And some of them will have had certain fans or followers that they might have had problems with in the past.”
Many may still be living with family, often in small towns or communities, Mr Brady added.
He noted that harassment of women and minorities prompted the Electoral Commission to call for a change in the law to remove election candidates’ addresses from ballot papers.
Mr Brady, whose firm, Brady & Associates, has been advising growing numbers of content creators and influencers in recent years, said they can earn up to €200,000 a year.
However, many of them are young with no experience of dealing with the tax authorities and do not know how to respond when Revenue contacts them.
“They’re in their early to mid-20s, that’s the demographic you’re dealing with,” he said.
Revenue says that publishing the address of someone who appears on the defaulters’ list ensures that the correct person is identified.
People or businesses appear on defaulters’ lists where the amount of tax due is more than €50,000, the penalties exceed 15 per cent of the liability and they fail to voluntarily disclose details to Revenue of the activity for which the fine or penalty was imposed.
Revenue says it has collected more than €3.3 million over the last five years from “social media influencers, content creators or other individuals operating through online platforms” whom the agency audited as it believed they were not paying the full amount of tax due.
It has issued notices to more than 450 others seeking voluntary compliance, a statement added.
Matthew Gilbert, dubbed the Irish Viking, appeared on the March defaulters’ list after paying more than €350,000 in tax, interest and penalties. He had said he earned up to €50,000 a month on OnlyFans.
“The tax obligations applicable to influencers, content creators or other individuals operating through online platforms are no different than those operating in other sectors,” Revenue said.
Revenue tracks online performers using details provided by OnlyFans and other platforms, along with publicly available information, the agency confirmed.
OnlyFans did not respond to a request for comment.
