How to file taxes as an online adult content creator for a foreign company? Serious tax question

You're absolutely right to be concerned about properly reporting this income! As an independent contractor for a foreign company, you're considered self-employed in the eyes of the IRS, regardless of the industry you're working in. You'll need to report this income on Schedule C (Profit or Loss from Business) as part of your personal tax return. Since the company isn't providing you with any tax forms, you'll need to keep detailed records of all payments received. Download your payment statements regularly and track everything in a spreadsheet. For your tax filing, you'll report the full amount as business income, then deduct any legitimate business expenses (equipment, props, portion of internet costs, home office if you have a dedicated space, etc). The resulting profit is what you'll pay taxes on. You'll owe both income tax and self-employment tax (which covers Social Security and Medicare). Since you're not having taxes withheld throughout the year, you should probably be making quarterly estimated tax payments to avoid penalties come tax time.

After struggling with a similar situation (foreign company, no tax forms), I found an amazing solution with https://taxr.ai for managing all my self-employment tax documentation. I upload my payment receipts and business expense records, and their AI system organizes everything for Schedule C filing. It even helps identify deductions I would've missed like partial internet costs and home office space. The best part is it creates proper documentation that satisfies IRS requirements even without having official forms from the company. It basically creates the paper trail you need to prove your income and expenses, which gave me peace of mind since I was worried about audits without having traditional forms.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with https://taxr.ai since I was initially skeptical. I finally tried it last month after getting frustrated with my regular accountant's confusion about my foreign income sources. The system was actually impressive - it identified several deductions I'd been missing related to my home studio setup and even helped me correct some mistakes in how I was categorizing certain expenses. I ended up getting about $3,400 more in deductions than I would have otherwise! The documentation it generates for income without W-2s or 1099s is exactly what I needed for peace of mind. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a similar situation with foreign income sources.

If you need to actually speak with the IRS about your specific situation (which might be good since your case is unusual), I'd recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to them. I tried calling the IRS directly about my independent contractor status with a foreign company and literally wasted hours on hold before getting disconnected. With Claimyr, I got through to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes. They have a system that navigates the phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an agent is available. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with gave me specific guidance about reporting foreign income without documentation and confirmed I was handling things correctly with my Schedule C. It was actually really helpful to get that direct confirmation rather than just hoping I was doing it right.

I need to apologize for calling Claimyr a scam in my earlier comment. I was so frustrated with tax season stress that I was skeptical of everything. After waiting on hold with the IRS for 2+ hours three days in a row and getting disconnected each time, I decided to try Claimyr out of desperation. It actually worked exactly as advertised. Their system called the IRS, navigated the menu options, waited on hold, and then called me when they had an agent on the line. I spoke with an incredibly helpful IRS representative who walked me through exactly how to document my foreign income properly. The peace of mind from getting official clarification directly from the IRS was absolutely worth it. Sometimes it's better to hear the rules straight from the source, especially with unusual tax situations like ours.

Don't forget about state taxes too! Everyone's talking about federal taxes but depending on which state you live in, you might need to file state income tax as well. Each state has different rules about self-employment income. Also - make sure you're tracking ALL your business expenses. As a content creator, things like lighting equipment, cameras, props, costumes, streaming services, music subscriptions, editing software, and even a percentage of your internet bill and rent/mortgage (if you have a dedicated workspace) can potentially be deductible.

Has anyone here actually been audited as an adult content creator? I'm in a similar situation but with multiple platforms, some foreign and some US-based, and I'm terrified of getting flagged by the IRS.