Retired police general and senatorial candidate Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar vowed to push for a fair and clear guideline in taxing social media influencers and vide bloggers, or bloggers, as the government stepped up last year its campaign to have them pay their taxes from their earnings.

This, as social media influencers and vloggers have expressed fears over reports of a nationwide crackdown that threatens investigation, confiscation of properties and even jail terms last year.

“Ang ilalaban natin ay magkaroon ng patas at malinaw na panuntutanan sa pagbabayad ng buwis ng mga social media influencers upang maiwasan natin ang kalituhan at pangamba (What we would fight is to have a fair and clear guidelines in taxing social media influencers to avoid confusion and fear among them)," said Eleazar.

He said most of the social media influencers are youth who were able to earn money through hard work in producing contents that are appealing to the people.

"As youth, it is not good for the government for them to have a bad impression on paying taxes especially that what were highlighted in the past are the consequences of not paying taxes instead of proper education and information about the importance of paying taxes," said Eleazar.

In August last year, the BIR issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 97-2021, stating that social media influencers shall be liable to Income Tax and Percentage Tax or Value-Added Tax (VAT) pursuant to the provisions of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC) of 1997, as amended, and other existing laws.

The issuance of the Circular came after the BIR had received reports that some influencers are not doing their duty of paying taxes while some are not even registered with the BIR.

According to the BIR, social media influencers, other than corporations and partnerships, are classified for tax purposes as “self-employed individuals or persons engaged in trade or business as sole proprietors, and therefore, their income is generally considered as business income.”

The social media influencers are reminded to voluntarily and truthfully declare their income and pay their corresponding taxes without waiting for a formal probe to be conducted by the BIR to avoid being liable for tax evasion and for the civil penalty of 50 percent of the tax or of the deficiency tax.

Eleazar, former director of the PNP’s Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) said he would work with the BIR to ensure that social media influencers would be properly taxed for their earnings through proper guidelines.

He also called on the BIR to initiate measures to educate social media influencers about taxation. In doing so, he explained that social media influencers could be the government’s partners in information dissemination about the importance of paying taxes.