Million stays at home: Dnipro woman wins court case against tax authority over OnlyFans income

Million stays at home: Dnipro woman wins court case against tax authority over OnlyFans income

Dnipro resident Yuliya Smirnova won the case against the tax authorities regarding charges of over 1.1 million UAH for content on OnlyFans.

Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court issued a decision in case No. 160/26087/25 between the regional tax service and local resident Yuliya Smirnova. Tax officials tried to collect 1.13 million hryvnia tax debt from the girl for allegedly received income from the British platform OnlyFans. However, the court completely denied the tax authorities and canceled all issued fines.

The essence of the conflict: where did the «million debt» come from?

In the fall of 2024, the Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in Dnipropetrovsk Region applied to the court demanding to collect 1,135,720 UAH tax debt from Yulia Smirnova.

As it turned out, Ukrainian tax officials received a letter from their colleagues in the United Kingdom. It stated that in 2022, Yuliya allegedly created content on the OnlyFans platform (British company "Fenix International Ltd") and received income of 126,647 US dollars for it.

Based solely on this information, the tax service conducted an unscheduled documentary check and independently charged the girl:
• over 1.04 million UAH personal income tax (PIT) with fines;
• over 86 thousand UAH military levy;
• over 6.8 thousand UAH administrative fines for failure to submit declarations.

Counterstrike: Yuliya Smirnova’s defense

Not agreeing with these actions, Yuliya Smirnova filed a counterclaim demanding the cancellation of all tax notices-decisions. Her defense relied on two key arguments:

• Procedural violation: The tax service did not properly notify Yuliya about the inspection. All documents (order and notice) were sent to an outdated address, although the girl had been officially registered at another place of residence since 2021. As a result, she was deprived of the right to provide her explanations or documents.

• Lack of evidence: The tax service charged a million debt based exclusively on one letter-notification. Inspectors did not examine any primary documents: neither bank statements, nor transactions, nor service agreements. Moreover, the State Tax Service of Ukraine itself, in response to the court’s request, admitted that it does not have Yulia’s bank details to which money from OnlyFans allegedly came.

What did the court decide?

On February 5, 2026, Judge M.V. Deyeva of the Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court ruled entirely in favor of Yuliya Smirnova.

The court emphasized that the essence of a tax inspection is the examination of primary accounting documents (bank statements, contracts, etc.). Tax charges cannot be based solely on assumptions or informational letters that are not confirmed by the movement of funds in the taxpayer’s accounts. Since the tax service did not prove the fact of receiving money and violated the inspection procedure, the results of such inspection are illegal.

Summary:

The court denied the tax service’s claim to collect 1.13 million UAH and fully satisfied Yuliya Smirnova’s counterclaim, canceling all issued fines and charges. In addition, the Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in Dnipropetrovsk Region is now obligated to reimburse the girl 11,357 UAH court fee from state funds.