Pay taxes, social media influencers told

August 18 ------ The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has issued a memorandum, dated Aug. 16, with the subject: “Taxation of Any Income Received by Social Media Influencers.” The BIR said it has been receiving reports that certain social media influencers have not been paying their income taxes despite earning “huge” income from the different social media platforms. There are also reports that they are not registered with the BIR or are registered under different tax types or line of business but are also not declaring their earnings from social media platforms for tax purposes.

“This Circular is therefore issued to clarify the tax obligations of all social media influencers, individual or corporation, with the end goal of raising revenues from their undeclared income and at the same time, reminding them of their obligations under the law and of the possible consequences of their failure to pay taxes,” they said. BIR related the term “social media influencers” referred to in this Circular includes all taxpayers, individuals or corporations, receiving income, in cash or in kind, from any social media sites and platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit, Snapchat, etc.) in exchange for services performed as bloggers, video bloggers or “vloggers” or as an influencer, in general, and from any other activities performed on such social media sites and platforms.”

The social media influencers are advised to “voluntary and truthfully” declare their income and pay their corresponding taxes without waiting for a formal investigation to be conducted by the BIR to avoid being liable for tax evasion and for the civil penalty of fifty percent (50%) of the tax or of the deficiency tax.

Source: mb.com.ph