BIR to probe initial 250 top-earning social media influencers

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is set to investigate an initial list of 250 social media influencers to check if they have been paying their taxes.

In a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, the BIR said that Letters of Authority (LOAs) to conduct the investigation were already issued to social media influencers considered to be “top earners” in their field.

The BIR said that social media influencers who earn from posts on digital platforms are classified as self-employed individuals or persons engaged in trade or business as sole proprietors. Their earnings are considered as business income.

READ: A closer look at the BIR tax memo for Social Media Influencers

“We encourage them to register, and then we have the profiling of over 250 personalities. We will do the investigation so that they would pay the necessary corresponding tax on their earnings,” BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said in his report to Dominguez during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) executive committee (Execom) meeting.

Under RMC 97-2021, social media influencers should pay income tax and percentage tax or, if applicable, the value-added tax (VAT), as mandated under the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) and other existing laws.