TAX CONTENT CREATORS PROPERLY — LAWMAKER
A House member expressed disappointment with the Bureau of Internal Revenue for relying only on the voluntary tax declarations of social media influencers.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said the agency is failing to properly enforce tax laws especially on those earning a lot.
“Yung mga nababayarang content creators, are you monitoring if they are paying taxes to our government?” Castro asked during the resumption of the House TriCom hearing on fake news online.
Atty. Yves Gonzalez, a representative from YouTube, clarified that the platform does not monitor whether Filipino content creators pay taxes.
“On the part of YouTube, we do not. And we believe the local internal revenue service are the ones who are monitoring that,” Gonzalez stated.
However, BIR officials admitted that they rely only on self-reporting by influencers, as their earnings primarily come from foreign payors.
“As stated by our colleague, we rely only on the voluntary declaration of the influencers in so far as their income because there will be great difficulty in monitoring the same considering that their income primarily comes from foreign income payors,” BIR Atty. Tobias Gavin Arcilla said.
Castro was visibly dissatisfied, questioning why the BIR is merely waiting for influencers to voluntarily declare their income instead of proactively obtaining data from social media platforms.
“Are we not doing our job well or are we remiss? Kasi bakit sinasabi nyong voluntary? Andiyan naman yung platform, yung Google Philippines o yung YouTube. You can ask from them yung list ng mga nag-gegenerate ng income. So bakit nag-aantay tayo ng voluntary from the content creator?”
Arcilla defended the BIR’s actions, saying that the agency is limited by current laws on tax investigations.
“Just to clarify, under existing tax laws, we cannot just investigate any taxpayer. As per existing tax laws, audits are done randomly or based on those who are classified as high risk. That is why we cannot just audit any taxpayer,” he explained.
Castro pointed out that this may indicate loopholes in the tax system, which Congress may need to address.
Meanwhile, Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop questioned the legal basis for how the BIR handles taxation of influencers.
“What exactly is the law governing this?” Acop asked.
Arcilla responded that the BIR follows the Tax Code and its implementing rules and regulations.
“The tax code as amended and our implementing rules and regulations,” he said.
Acop then asked if the BIR is aware of Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 97-2021, which specifically governs the taxation of social media influencers.
“Are you aware of Revenue Circular Memorandum No. 97-2021? Ano po ba ang title ng Memorandum Circular na yun?” Acop pressed.
Arcilla confirmed that the BIR has been implementing this memorandum since its issuance in 2021.
“Mr. Chair, taxation of any income received by social media influencers,” he answered.
However, Acop demanded concrete results from the agency.
Arcilla confirmed that the memorandum has been in effect for the past three years.
Acop then directed the BIR to submit a report on how many social media influencers have actually been taxed since the issuance of the circular.
