MANILA – The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has vowed to intensify its crackdown on social media influencers who fail to pay proper taxes as an online celebrity and businesswoman flexed her multimillion-peso daily earnings in a vlog.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that BIR Assistant Commissioner Jethro Sabariaga has flagged some influencers for allegedly “disregarding” notices from the bureau about tax payments.
Some influencers, the Inquirer said, also snubbed the BIR’s requests for information regarding their earnings.
The BIR issued the warning at the same time that actress-host Toni Gonzaga posted a vlog where she interviewed beauty influencer and businesswoman Rosemarie Peñamora Tan, more popularly known as Rosmar.
Tan proudly told Gonzaga that she used to earn as much as P13 million daily from her business, but the amount is now allegedly down to P5 million because the beauty business is oversaturated.
She proudly showed off her collection of luxury cars, which include a Ferrari, Lamborghini, GT-R, Porsche, and some other brands that she couldn’t remember.
“Lahat po ng property na binili naming mag-asawa, mga car, cash po lahat wala po akong utang,” she candidly said. “‘Yun po yung pinaka-nakakaproud para sa sarili ko.”
The BIR has been trying to establish a tax payment and monitoring scheme for these new media celebrities since 2021 but enforcement has been weak thus far.
Influencers are considered self-employed earners and must initiate the filing of earnings reports and income tax payments before the BIR for compliance.
The tax bureau said in 2021 that it is looking to file raps against 250 high-flying influencers suspected of not paying the right amount of taxes for the millions of pesos they earn via streaming, vlogging, and sponsorship deals.
