After it was revealed that an unnamed OnlyFans creator had claimed tax breaks for breast enhancement surgery, the accountant who filed the return expressed surprise that it was making headlines.
Rachel Martin, who runs a chartered certified practice with her husband James, says she isn’t used to media attention because her clientele isn’t limited to content creators.
OnlyFans is a subscription-based website that charges a monthly fee to access creator content. It is not solely a platform for adult content, but Rachel’s client is in that business.
The Mail on Sunday described it as “the first known case of its kind,” but the BBC spoke with another OnlyFans creator who successfully claimed cosmetic dental work and breast implants as a business expense in her HMRC tax returns following surgery in 2020.
Those who use the website do not qualify as employees, so they must file self-employed tax returns with HMRC and can thus claim back business expenses.
Rachel tells the BBC that this is a “exceptional case,” and that working on it has been difficult due to “content creation being relatively new in the eyes of HMRC.”
She claims she followed HMRC guidelines for actors and other entertainers, which state that any business expense must be proven to have no personal benefit in order for it to be accepted.
“While guidance on the interpretation of tax legislation is available,” an HMRC spokesperson told the BBC, “we do not provide assurances for specific cases.”
Despite some successful claims, HMRC stated that “a non-health related operation is very unlikely to be an allowable expense when calculating profits.”
However, Rachel claims she followed the guidelines for expensing items that would directly increase the amount of money her client could make.