MANILA, Philippines—The crackdown on tax-delinquent “influencers” has started, as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) initiated an investigation of 250 of such social media celebrities who may have earned millions of pesos and raked in freebies through their vlogs and social media posts.
The BIR recently reported to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that it already issued letters of authority (LOAs) to the yet unnamed influencers who, based on initial BIR investigation, belonged to the “top earners,” the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement on Thursday (Sept. 16).
LOAs are an official BIR document which empowers revenue officers to examine and scrutinize taxpayers’ books in order to determine their correct tax liabilities.
The BIR’s Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 97-2021 issued in August reminded these influencers that taxes are due for every peso they earned.
In a text message on Thursday, Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa declined to provide the names of the 250 social media personalities. “We are collating their records,” Guballa said.
The DOF quoted Guballa as telling Dominguez that the BIR was still encouraging influencers to register as taxpayers and settle their dues.
On the 250 influencers currently being profiled by the BIR, Guballa said “we will do the investigation so that they would pay the necessary corresponding tax on their earnings.”
However, the BIR may face a hurdle in investigating some influencers who had already...
Read Full Story: https://business.inquirer.net/330826/250-social-media-influencers-on-bir-crosshairs
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