From today’s Rolling Stone Magazine:
A few angry men on the internet have launched a campaign encouraging others to report sex workers to the IRS for failing to report income they make online, claiming they’ll get a cut of any back taxes collected as a reward for being “whistleblowers.” The campaign, dubbed the “Thot Audit,” is circulating around misogynist “men’s rights” and incel (involuntary celibate) circles on Twitter and Reddit along with a lot of anti-women, anti-sex worker rhetoric. Sure, it’s cruel — but does it pose a real threat?
“I’m not concerned about being reported,” says Rachel, who works as a financial dominatrix. “The IRS is not only heavily overburdened, I’d be shocked to find someone had even one-sixteenth of the necessary information to file form 3949-A [the form used to report another person for non-payment].”
“The presence of any kind of real threat here seems to be mitigated by people who are more interested in being granted some kind of permission to harass sex workers,” she says. “Boredom will inevitably set in, and the ‘thot audit’ campaign will be put to bed soon.”
Christopher Kirk, a tax attorney who works with sex workers and other alternative communities, agrees that this is likely an empty threat.
“I don’t think that cam girls and other online sex workers are at a very high risk of being audited as a result of this harassment campaign,” he says. “The IRS requires rather detailed information from whistleblowers, including, at the very least, the taxpayer’s legal name and location. While some cam girls and other online sex workers may operate under their legal name, I doubt many do.”
“Moreover,” Kirk says, “the Service wants actionable information about significant tax issues, not guesses, and the program is not a forum for people with an ax to grind. Because the incel trolls engaging in the #thotaudit campaign likely have no idea whether their targets file taxes or report the income from their online work, I don’t think it likely that such reporting will actually trigger an audit.”
He says the best way for sex workers to protect themselves is to file their taxes, reporting their income as accurately as possible, and keeping receipts for any business expenses so they have a paper trail if they ever do get audited.
Read the complete article here.