Reminder: Pay your taxes.
The BIR issued a memorandum yesterday stating that social media influencers are not exempt from tax payments. Anyone who is earning an income online are required to pay taxes.
The bureau have received reports stating that social media influencers are evading income taxes, despite their huge earnings from different social media platforms.
They also added that some social media influencers are not registered within the BIR. Some are also registered under different lines of businesses and are not declaring their earnings.
Influencers may be liable for both income tax and business tax. The BIR said.
If you may have recalled, the BIR called for online businesses to register with the bureau last year. A week after that announcement, BIR also reminded bloggers, filmmakers and other content creators earning from digital ads to register their names as business entities.
In a memo released by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), they gave out a sample of which of the content creators’ earnings are taxable. From the Php 10 million gross income, they can deduct 10% from it.
According to the memo, social media influencers gain their earnings from the following platforms:
- YouTube Partner Program
- Sponsored Social and Blog Posts
- Brand representative/ambassador
- Affiliate Marketing
- Co-creating product lines/merch
- Promoting own products
- Photo and Video sales
- Digital Courses, including webinars and e-books
- Podcasts
These are platforms which may be held liable to income tax regulations and are considered self-employed engaging in business or trade.
If social media influencers don’t comply, they may be held liable for tax evasion.