BI warns vloggers in the Philippines

[Heeb]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

When the little guy does it, it is "illegal".  When the biggest companies in the world do it, it is called "business acumen". 

Stubhub comes to mind, if you sell extra seats to a concert on the street corner it’s illegal but it’s legal on Stubhub and they make mint doing it, it’s caused the prices for sporting events to skyrocket. 

[Heeb]

8 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

There are two couples who live here full time and are popular on You Tube.  Millions of views.  They have done some videos together.  I wonder what their visa is?  There is another young guy who seems to be very rich and a lot of his videos are about giving money and gifts to Filipinos.

If they are making the videos in the Philippines, that seems like work to me, so even if the money goes into a foreign bank account, would they own PH taxes?

Another thing they do is get free hotel rooms at resorts and free meals at restos, in exchange for promoting them.  In the U.S., I think that would be taxable.

 

I know which ones you’re talking about, UK and Austrian couples. I’ve seen them do YouTubes promoting BMW’s for which they get a discount or a free rental from what I can tell. I don’t see the harm in it since they’re doing tourism a favor. There’s some beautiful place in P.I. for sure but one thing I don’t like is when they over glamorize a place that I know isn’t that nice, it’s so bad I stopped watching, they are quite the turd polishers.

[Gandang Smile]

22 hours ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

[...]

It can be recalled that in February, a social media influencer was charged by the BI for performing in gainful activity without the necessary permit or visa, after allegedly engaging in the online retail of notebooks, bags, and toiletries.
Similarly in India, New Zealand Youtuber Karl Rock has recently made headlines after he was reportedly denied entry and blacklisted for violating the terms and conditions of his visa for doing business activities on a tourist visa.

https://www.facebook.com/officialbureauofimmigration/posts/2062306160574747

[...]

Performing in gainful activity while working for a company not registered in the Philippines (or even non-existent, as for some of these YouTubers) should be fine in the Philippines. What am I missing here?  

[hk blues]

29 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

Performing in gainful activity while working for a company not registered in the Philippines (or even non-existent, as for some of these YouTubers) should be fine in the Philippines. What am I missing here?  

I'm not sure it's as simple as that, here is the relevant quote -

"Income of residents in Philippines is taxed progressively up to 32%. Resident citizens are taxed on all their net income derived from sources within and without the Philippines. For nonresident, whether an individual or not of the Philippines, is taxable only on income derived from sources within the Philippines".

[Gator]

30 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

 What am I missing here?  

Tourism is down therefore revenue to the BI from visas and bribes is down. So now the BI has more time to seek out other forms of revenue via the fines they would impose should they catch any the vloggers. It’s about the money. It always is. 

[Gandang Smile]

4 hours ago, hk blues said:

I'm not sure it's as simple as that, here is the relevant quote -

"Income of residents in Philippines is taxed progressively up to 32%. Resident citizens are taxed on all their net income derived from sources within and without the Philippines. For nonresident, whether an individual or not of the Philippines, is taxable only on income derived from sources within the Philippines".

Source within the Philippines is the bone of contention. If John Doe's Amazeballs Vlog is a company registered in the UK and the video editing is made in a Starbucks in Thailand 3 days after leaving the Philippines, good luck BI finding it as taxable income.

I think the problem here is the Ph Gov's bullying ways, especially against foreigners always being in the fragile position of "comply of leave". You probably know what Philippine companies, from sari-sari stores down to major conglomerates, can get away with, in terms of not dodging BIR. It's always easier to bully the small fry for peanuts, rather than chase the whales for billions. 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Gandang Smile

[Gandang Smile]

4 hours ago, Gator said:

Tourism is down therefore revenue to the BI from visas and bribes is down. So now the BI has more time to seek out other forms of revenue via the fines they would impose should they catch any the vloggers. It’s about the money. It always is. 

Agreed. It's also about the frustration of not being able to get millions or dollars from the largest conglomerate and having to resort to chasing kids with a GoPro for a few hundred bucks. 

[Dave Hounddriver]

3 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

in terms of not dodging BIR

I knew a fellow who thought he could dodge the BIR.  Knew him quite well, may he R.I.P.  He was an extremely smart fellow and figured he had good legal arguments for not paying BIR tax.

When his filipina mother-in-law turned him in to the BIR, (out of spite because Bob made his wife cut back her Mom's allowance), the BIR did not care about his good legal arguments.  They did not listen to him at all.  They told him the amount he had to pay and a third party negotiated a lesser amount if it was paid in cash to a high up individual.  Such is Philippines.  Fortunately there are few expats who cut off their wife's family's allowances so they never need to worry about that. 

[Gandang Smile]

4 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I knew a fellow who thought he could dodge the BIR.  Knew him quite well, may he R.I.P.  He was an extremely smart fellow and figured he had good legal arguments for not paying BIR tax.

When his filipina mother-in-law turned him in to the BIR, (out of spite because Bob made his wife cut back her Mom's allowance), the BIR did not care about his good legal arguments.  They did not listen to him at all.  They told him the amount he had to pay and a third party negotiated a lesser amount if it was paid in cash to a high up individual.  Such is Philippines.  Fortunately there are few expats who cut off their wife's family's allowances so they never need to worry about that. 

Ouch, sounds like a horror story 

[Dave Hounddriver]

12 minutes ago, Gandang Smile said:

Ouch, sounds like a horror story

Yes, his life turned from Paradise Philippines to a nightmare in a few short years.  A real horror story that was largely his own making, (too smart for his own good and not realizing that logic does not persuade filipinos).

But each new crop of expats has to learn the horror stories for themselves.  We, as humans, have never been good at learning from the mistakes of others.