A federal judge in Tampa handed down a sentence last week that’s worth sitting with if you’ve ever told yourself you’ll “sort the tax out later”: one year in prison for an OnlyFans creator who earned $5.4 million on the platform and simply didn’t report most of it.
The case in brief
According to a US Department of Justice press release, Kylie Perez — who created content under the name “Natalie Monroe” — was sentenced on 20 August 2026 to one year in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release, after pleading guilty in May 2026 to filing a false tax return. Court records show Perez earned $5.4 million between 2019 and 2023 from OnlyFans subscriptions, pay-per-view content and subscriber tips. She filed a false return for 2019 and simply failed to pay tax on her 2020–2023 income, leaving at least $1.5 million in unpaid federal tax. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted out of the Middle District of Florida.
“Evading the payment of owed income tax is a violation of our federal tax laws,” US Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe said in the DOJ’s announcement. “We will continue to prosecute those who purposely commit these crimes.”
This isn’t really a story about one creator
It’s a story about a mistake that’s much more common than a single prison sentence suggests: treating platform income as somehow separate from “real” taxable income, especially when a platform doesn’t automatically withhold tax the way a traditional employer would. OnlyFans, like other platforms, reports creator earnings to tax authorities — that income is taxable whether or not you personally set money aside for it, and whether or not a 1099 or equivalent form ever lands in your inbox.
That point matters more than ever right now. The IRS recently raised the 1099-K reporting threshold to $2,000 — but a higher reporting threshold changes what paperwork a platform sends you, not what you legally owe. Underneath the different numbers on different forms, the obligation to report and pay tax on your creator income is unchanged.
What actually protects you
- Set aside a fixed percentage of every payout the moment it lands — many US creators aim for 25–30% held back for federal and state tax, adjusted with an accountant’s help for your specific bracket and state.
- Pay quarterly estimated taxes if you’re self-employed in the US, rather than waiting until the following spring — this is exactly the gap that turns into a criminal referral when it compounds over several years.
- Keep your own records independent of the platform. Export subscription, PPV and tip data regularly; don’t rely on being able to pull historical figures from an app months or years later.
- Get a CPA or accountant who has actually worked with content creators — the deductible expenses, self-employment tax treatment and entity structuring (see our piece on whether an LLC makes sense for OnlyFans income) are genuinely different from a typical salaried return.
- If you’re behind, get ahead of it voluntarily. Tax authorities in both the US and UK consistently treat creators who come forward and correct past filings far more leniently than those who are caught mid-audit.
UK-based creators face the same underlying principle through a different mechanism: HMRC now receives OnlyFans earnings data directly from the platform, so the “they’ll never know” assumption doesn’t hold up on either side of the Atlantic anymore.
This article is for general information only and is not tax or legal advice. If you have unreported income or are unsure whether your filings are accurate, speak to a qualified accountant or tax attorney — ideally before HMRC or the IRS raises the question for you.
