₱45 Billion Worth of Taxes Were Collected From Online Sellers, Influencers – BIR

As of last year, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected about P45 billion in taxes from online vendors and social media influencers, lawmakers on the other side urged that the agency strengthen its efforts to capture all digital economy players.

Last Monday, BIR Assistant Commissioner Clavelina Nacar told Congress that taxes accumulated from online sellers and social media influencers prospered to ₱44.68 billion as of 2021, which is 9% growth compared to P41.04 billion in 2020. 

Online retailers who sell their products from different e-commerce platforms such as Shopee and Lazada are among the top contributor from the said data. At the same time, social media influencers who create digital content for platforms like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter contributed P3.72 million.

Joey Salceda, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, questioned the BIR on why the tax revenue barely increased by ₱1.4 billion in a whole year during the pandemic in 2021. He remarked about why the tax effort seemed to be undervalued in comparison to the digital economy’s scale.

BIR Assistant Commissioner Larry Barcelo said the bureau has requested statistics on the number of online retailers working with e-commerce giants Lazada and Shopee. He also stated that regional directors are investigating social media influencers’ tax compliance.

Salceda gives emphasis to look into the tax compliance of prominent social media platforms such as Facebook, which he claims receives at least $1 billion in ad sales from the country every year. He also advised BIR to intensify its measures in collecting taxes from internet-based individuals and businesses.

Source: OneNews