Content creators can deduct platform fees on Schedule C Line 10 (Commissions and fees) — but the deductibility depends on the fee structure.
Deductible fees:
- Revenue splits paid before payout: OnlyFans keeps 20%, Patreon keeps 8-12% + processing, Substack keeps 10% + Stripe 2.9%+$0.30. They are deductible on Line 10 when the income you report includes them, that is, when the platform's tax form shows your earnings before its cut. If the form shows only what was paid to you, the cut was never your income and isn't deducted again.
- Per-transaction processing fees: Any processing fee charged as a separate out-of-pocket cost is deductible.
- Platform subscriptions/base fees: A Patreon Pro plan or similar flat monthly fee goes on Line 27a (Other expenses) as Software & Tools.
- Twitch Bits processing fees: Deductible because Twitch separately charges a processing fee per Bits transaction.
- Spotify/distributor fees: Distributor takes 0-15% before paying royalties — deductible on Line 10.
Not separately deductible:
- Twitch subscriber revenue split: Twitch keeps 50% of subscriber revenue, but the creator never receives or handles that 50% — it's excluded from gross income, not a deductible expense. Report only the net payout as income.
- YouTube rev share: Google keeps 45% before the AdSense deposit. Same logic — only the 55% deposited is income; there is no separate deduction.
1099 reconciliation: compare each platform's tax form to what actually reached your bank. If a creator received $8,000 after OnlyFans's 20% cut and the form shows $10,000, report $10,000 on Line 1 and deduct $2,000 in platform fees on Line 10. If the form shows $8,000, report $8,000 and don't deduct the fee again. Reporting less than the form without claiming the matching fee is what leads to a CP2000 notice.
How ExpenseBot records the fee. ExpenseBot never assumes a platform's fee rate. It picks up Patreon and OnlyFans sale, tip and subscriber emails (and Gumroad sale emails) from Gmail and records the platform fee when the email shows it. Most OnlyFans and Patreon notifications show a single number, so ExpenseBot does not split the OnlyFans or Patreon fee until you confirm your rate once under Add Income → Manage platform fees — it suggests the rate from your existing entries — and from then on every future single-number email from that platform is split into gross, fee and net. When you generate your Year End tax report, the fees recorded on your Income tab are deducted on Schedule C Line 10 (T2125 line 8871 in Canada); no separate expense row is posted.
Twitch payout emails may be picked up when they clearly say money was paid to you, but not every one will be, and Substack emails are not read as income (a Substack payout sent through Stripe may appear as a Stripe payout). For those platforms, import the earnings CSV with the Add Income button — the columns are read for you, with no mapping.
See https://www.expensebot.ai/blog/creator-platform-fee-deductions for a full platform-by-platform breakdown. Estimates — confirm with your tax professional.