MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) announced on PTV-4 today that they will still run after a YouTube vlogging couple even after they deleted their channel.
BIR said that deleting their social media channel will not excuse them from paying taxes.
According to the government agency, the couple, who the agency did not name, earned P50 to P100 million from YouTube in the past two years. BIR believed that they deleted their channel to avoid paying taxes.
BIR sources said that the couple deleted their channel days after BIR Commissioner Caesar Dulay announced that social media influencers earning from YouTube and Facebook should pay taxes.
Atty. Marissa Cabreros, BIR’s deputy commisioner for legal group, said social media influencers have the obligation to register to the agency and pay their taxes.
“Wala ho silang dapat ikatakot. 'Yung obligasyon po ng pagrerehistro ay magkaiba po 'yan sa pagbabayad ng buwis. Kailangang magparehistro sila dahil they are considered engaged in business,” she said.
“Pangalawa, when you are registered on BIR, they are required to pay taxes. Kung ang annual net income niyo po ay hindi naman lalagpas sa P250,000, wala pong babayarang income tax po 'yan. Kaya 'yung mga nagsasabi ng 'maliit lang kami,' wala po silang dapat ikatakot,” she added.
Related: Foreign 'vloggers' not exempted: Breaking down BIR tax on social media creators, influencers
Recently, YouTuber couple Camille Trinidad and Jayzam Manabat, most popularly known as "JaMill," deleted their channel to allegedly fix and focus on their relationship.
In her Twitter account, Camille bid goodbye to their 12 million YouTube followers and said that they are now signing off, but their relationship will be forever.
“JaMill is now signing off. Pero Jayzam & camille is (forever)," Camille said.
RELATED: JaMill deletes YouTube channel with 12M followers to save relationship