Photo credit: Congress PH

Are social media influencers really paying their fair share of taxes? That’s the big question raised by ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro during a congressional hearing, as she slammed the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for seemingly relying on influencers to voluntarily declare their earnings.

“Yung mga nababayarang content creators, are you monitoring if they are paying taxes to our government?” Castro asked, pointing out a potential gap in tax enforcement.

Adding to the concern, YouTube representative Atty. Yves Gonzalez clarified that the platform does not track whether Filipino content creators are paying their taxes. “On the part of YouTube, we do not. And we believe the local internal revenue service are the ones who are monitoring that,” he stated.

But here’s the kicker—BIR officials admitted that they rely solely on influencers to self-report their income since most of their earnings come from foreign companies.

“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 explained.

Castro wasn’t having it. She questioned why the BIR isn’t proactively gathering data from social media platforms like Google Philippines or YouTube instead of waiting for influencers to come forward.

“Are we not doing our job well or are we remiss? Kasi bakit sinasabi nyong voluntary?” she pressed.

Arcilla defended the agency, saying tax laws limit their ability to conduct investigations. “Just to clarify, under existing tax laws, we cannot just investigate any taxpayer. Audits are done randomly or based on those who are classified as high risk,” he said.

However, lawmakers like Castro and Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop believe these limitations might be a sign of loopholes in the system that Congress needs to address. Acop even quizzed the BIR on Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 97-2021, which specifically deals with influencer taxation.

“Are you aware of Revenue Circular Memorandum No. 97-2021? Ano po ba ang title ng Memorandum Circular na yun?” Acop asked.

Arcilla confirmed that the memo, issued in 2021, is being implemented. But Acop wasn’t satisfied with just confirmation—he demanded results.

“May I know if you have implemented this since 2021?” he pushed.

Arcilla assured the committee that the BIR has been enforcing the memorandum and agreed to submit a report on how many social media influencers have actually been taxed.

With billions of pesos potentially at stake, the big question remains—will the government find a way to ensure influencers are paying their fair share, or will tax collection continue to be based on the honor system.