BIR Releases Tax Memo for Social Media Influencers

Amid the rise of social media influencers and popular vloggers, the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) recently released a tax memo to remind everyone that their income is taxable under the law.

Taxable Income of Social Media Influencers

In a memo dated August 16, 2021, the BIR reminds social media influencers of their tax obligations to the government.

Part of the memo declared:

“The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) 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.

Whatever may be the reasons, it is now the most opportune time to discuss the tax obligations of these social media influencers.”

The memo also pointed out that they may face “possible consequences” for failure to pay said taxes.

Could this mean that we’ll be seeing a lot of tax evasion cases against vloggers and social media influencers soon?

BIR Releases Tax Memo for Social Media Influencers

The memo also educated the social media influencers that they might need to pay two types of taxes:

  • Income tax
  • Business tax

Due to the nature of this kind of job or business, the BIR announced that they are allowing deductions from taxable income, including but not limited to the following:

  • Filming expenses
  • Computer equipment
  • Subscription and software licensing fees
  • Internet and communication expenses
  • Home office expenses
  • Office supplies
  • Business expenses (transportation, costumes, giveaway prizes, etc.)
  • Depreciation expense
  • Bank charges and shipping fees

Here’s sample computation provided by the BIR:

BIR Releases Tax Memo for Social Media Influencers

Considering that these social media influencers can be easily found on the internet, it looks like it will be easy for the BIR to go after them and collect their taxes.

Joy Adalia

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