Also available in: Deutsch (German)

The EU tax regulation DAC 7 is currently being reflected in the conditions for Creators on OnlyFans and other portals. It has actually been in force since 1 January 2023. Since then, digital platform providers have been obliged to report all payments to their registered sellers, in this case camgirls or creators, to the relevant tax authorities.

The intention behind the so-called “tax transparency regulation” is to plug the very last loophole for potential tax evaders. The first deadline for online platform operators to report payments to their sellers for the 2023 calendar year is now 31 January 2024. This is why additional information is now often required on the platforms. Only Fans, for example, is required to provide a tax identification number. Without this, no payments will be made from January 2024. This number should not be confused with the VAT ID. The new regulation has nothing to do with VAT for the time being. The tax identification number is assigned to everyone, whether self-employed or not, by the tax office. This has been the case since 2008 and is usually printed on practically all correspondence with the tax office anyway. If in doubt, you can request brief information from the tax office and have it sent to you. In the worst case, you can also request it from the Federal Central Tax Office. However, this should only be necessary in very few cases. Banks have also been asking for this number for years, for example when opening a new account.

Special case Czech Republic

If a creator from the Czech Republic has registered with Only Fans, for example, he or she will first stumble across a request for this so-called tax identification number. In the Czech Republic, this number is known as a personal identification number or TIN. It can even be found on the back of every identity card. Only this number is accepted in this field, and not the “IČO or DIČ” tax numbers, which are only available to self-employed persons with a trade licence.

Differences throughout Europe

As usual, the exact procedures in the various European countries are confusing and unclear. In principle, the new regulations apply to all platform operators operating in the EU, not just to platform operators based in the EU. This means that DAC7 also applies to OnlyFans, which is based in the UK. In addition, the implementation of the individual member states within the EU is by no means standardised. France, for example, has already implemented the rules before 2023 as a kind of anticipatory obedience. Austria, Spain and BENELUX, among others, enacted similar DAC7 regulations before 2023, while the remaining EU countries, such as Germany and the Czech Republic, are now joining them with the schedule described above.

Important: every platform should now check whether all the required information has been provided in full. Otherwise, there may be unpleasant surprises in the form of non-payments from January 2024.

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