Topic: Earning From Digital Ads Will Be Taxed (e.g., Signature Campaign) - page 2. (Read 801 times)

Again, this is another general law, I think we need to be specific here since we are talking about the 250k threshold in a yearly basis so our income will fall under the compensation income.

So here's the definition of gross compensation income : source


So here's my question, do we have an employer-employee relationship when we are participating in a signature campaign?

If your answer is no, END OF DISCUSSION, if Yes then answer this question.

If there is an employer-employee relationship there should be a contract as the basis of employment, an employer or employee can file a legal action if one contracting party violated the contract.

Now, since I'm currently on a signature campaign, if the manager would fail to pay the agreed compensation, can I sue him/her/it (since we don't know if what we are working with is human or a robot or whatsoever)?

If your answer is yes, HOW?

Siguro dapat may specific na mga halimbawa ng maaaring singilin sa tax or yung mga pasok sa category. Kagaya nga ng sabi nila,  mukhang mahihirapan din ang BIR kung pati itong mga signature campaign ay io-obliga nila na magbayad ng tax. And since marami din ang sakop ng bracket na yun, I don't think kaya nilang ihandle lahat especially kung isasama nila ang decentralized transactions. Parang sa idea pa nga lang na pati online selling ay lalagyan nila ng tax, makakasigurado ba sila na lahat nagbabayad at lahat registered?

Kumpara naman talaga sa mga online sellers at vloggers, mas madaling makilala sino kung nga kumikita ng malaki kasi kilala sila lalo na sa social media. Pero yung related sa crypto, hindi naman madaling matrace ang mga ito dahil na din sa nature nito.

I get where you are coming from.

I also thought the memorandum was originally for e-commerce merchants only but then realized it could also cover all digital earners. It is no longer a question of "maituturing bang business ang blogging at content creation?" when Guballa clarified it na kasama mga digital earners. That is why I was hoping na mag-issue sila ng panibagong memorandum amending the previous one para mas klaro na.

It is within anyone's right naman to challenge it with the court but on what grounds? Vagueness? Expanding the coverage of the memo? Whatever the case, I don't think it will fly. Besides, hindi naman against sa Tax code yung memorandum which requires declaration of income.

If you know someone that would file a case to challenge RMO 60-2020, sabihan mo ako. Gusto ko din sundan yan kung sakali.

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Then what "establish first its legality" are you talking about?

I see, I'd take that as a 'no'.

For every reader's reference, here is what the Philippine Tax Code says:



Regardless kung sa signature campaign ka kumikita or kung saan mang digital platforms, the law is very clear on this. Putting RMC 60-2020 (which covers digital earnings) aside, kung nakatira ka dito sa Pinas at sumasali sa mga sig campaigns, yung income mo dun is taxable under Section 23-A alone. Pero gaya ng sinabi ko at ng iba dito, pwedeng exempted kung 250K and below. Nevertheless, you are still bound by law to declare it.

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I appreciate the discussion here at halata naman magkakaiba ng opinyon but I think we all know the right thing to do. Like I said, the law is clear and it's not a question of "paano nila malalaman?" or to put it more directly, "paano nila ako mahuhuli?". It is up to us now kung susundin natin yung nakasaad sa batas o hindi. I'm pretty sure we are all old enough to know na may equal reaction sa bawat action na gagawin natin.  

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@Maus0728 mailagay mo sana  dun sa OP yung part ng tax code na binanggit ko. Tingin ko halos lahat dito hindi alam yan kaya magandang mabasa din.

I'm not talking about declaration because I would never declare my earning as in the first place I believe that we are not required to pay taxes for our income in signature campaign. If you declare yours then that's good for you, there's no law that prohibits you from doing that.


I don't need to answer that question as like I said, I don't consider my income from signature campaign as taxable income.
Consider the income that we earn from signature campaign as off the books income, it's not necessary to remit it.

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Wala naman sigurong gumagawa yan, kalokohan lang yan kung may mag remit ng income nila from signature campaign.
Ganito kasi yun, kung ang government ay nakikinabang sa atin through our tax remittance, di ba dapat may protection din tayo sa government, so paano yan, kunyare i red tag ang account mo at hindi kana makapag hanap buhay, saang agency ka mag report para mag pa investigate?

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Of course di nila malalaman, pero maari kang mag remit kahit di ka required, di naman tatanggihan ng BIR yan kasi nga pera na yan.
Pero sa totoo lang, walang gumagawa ang niyan dahil malibang nalang kung masyado kang mapag bigay, at ang BIR mayroon sila check and balance na tinatawag..

Kunyare kung ikaw ang isang employee, ang employer mo mismo ang mag dededuct ng tax sa iyo para ibayad nila sa BIR, sila ang tinatawag ang withholding agent, para masiguro na mag remit ka ng maayos.. so sa signature campaign natin, sino ang witholding agent? si yahoo ba or si hhampuz? wala..

Kung sa business naman, dapat may resibo, para may ma check, kung nagbebenta ka, dapat mag issue ka ng resibo na registered sa BIR, kung may resibo may check and balance din.. Sa signature campaign, walang ganyan kaya walang legality ito.. in short NO TAX REQUIRED.



No one is bashing here, gusto ko tong thread na to. may different opinion tayo at klaro namang knowledgeable ang mga nag participate sa discussions.

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SUGGESTION KO SANA kay OP.. PWEDE KANG GUMAWA NG POLL , "MAY TAX BA ANG SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN?" para lang malaman ang boses ng majority.

Wag sana rin nating gawing example ang youtube or anong platform na walang kinalaman sa crypto dahil dapat crypto discussion lang tayo dito.
Sa pagkakaalam ko rin, sa youtube alang ng company ang full name mo dahil requirement yan for monetization, kaya madali kang ma trace.

Once na mapakinggan ko ito sa balita, napa-isip kagad ako kung sakop ba ako nitong balitang ito. Pero na-realize ko din na hindi naman ako aabot/lalampas sa threshold na tinalaga nila.

I'm not well-versed to these kind of things and apologies in advance if my questions sound dumb but I'll put it out anyway. Pano nila malalaman na kumikita ako sa isang signature campaign kung hindi ko naman ito i-dedeclare? Kung lalapit naman sila sa Coins.ph at tingnan yung mga pumapasok na BTC to my account with them, pede ko din namang itanggi na galing yon sa sig campaign.

Again, don't bash me for my questions. These are just my honest questions and I really don't know the answers to them. So others who can give light into these are much appreciated. 

Sa bagay talagang transparent na ngayon kompara sa dati ang mga resulta ng tax money sa ating bansa. Kung may tax implementation sa mga digital ads, dapat isaayos ang mga ito na hindi ma corrupt ng nasa gobyerno. Dapat hindi ma over taxation, para hindi mamulubi ang kumikita kagaya ng signature campaign na karamihan ay umaasa dito lalo na sa panahon ngayun na mahina ang kitaan.

Wala naman akong nakikitang problema kung tayo ay magtatax sa government, katungkulan natin ito dahil nakikinabang din tayo sa resources ng bansa at ng mga mamamayan nito, kung dati nga na kinukurakot lang ang kaban ng bayan ay nagtatax tayo, ngayon pa kaya na nakikita natin na nagsisikap ang gobyerno na maglingkod at pagbutihin ang kanilang serbisyo, oo may mga kapalpakan din sa mga itinalaga, pero ang tignan natin na may puso ito kesa naman sa mga nagdaang admin.

Yes I read the full test of the memorandum circular at nag-quote lang ako sa digest dahil dito lang pwedeng ma-copy and paste ang text kumpara sa full text file which is on an image format.


The memorandum circular still fails to show how bloggers o kaya ang mga content creators ay kasama sa sakop nito sa pagiging business. Ang pagiging merchant or businessman simply requires them to sell goods and services which they aren't doing kung mga sponsorships na extra pwede pa pero yung ad revenue na kinikita nila paano nila ma-explain na business ito kung incentive lang naman sakanila ng mga content websites na ito. Simple lang di sila merchant or business walang kumo-contact sakanila to buy something from them kasi wala naman silang binibenta in the first place. If they were considered as “sole-proprietors” rather than “self-employed” individuals dito pumalpak si Guballa dahil nga hindi naman sila pwedeng i-consider as business in the first place, nabasa ko na din yung article ng Manila Bulletin at similar lang naman yung sinabi dito at yung article ng Yugatech at parehas pa din ang aking sentimento tungkol dito na si Guballa na nag-dadagdag ng mga bagong batas sa memorandum circular kahit hindi naman ito sakop, this alone will give bloggers a chance in court if kasuhan sila ng BIR.

Well, ang tanong dito, --kumikita kaba ng higher 250k PhP per month from signature campaign na dapat mo e-declare? Sa tingin ko wala naman siguro lahat tayo dito may kanya-kanyang trabaho maliban dito sa forum. Ikaw, kusang loob ka bang mag file ng annual Income Tax Returns at sabihin mo na account ko yan nasa bitcointalk at ganito ang kinikita ko per year/month. Sa tingin ko bihira nalang.

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Indeed. Kaya impossible tayo magka tax dito.
End of discussion!

I think agree ako sa mga sinasabi ng mga ibang member dito sa lokal naten, mukang malabo nga na masama pati itong forum naten for taxes, siguro kung masasama pa pati itong forum naten ay dapat masama na rin ang mga million million na websites kung saan pwede rin kumita ang mga Filipino.

I think siguro masmadaling malagyan ng tax ang mga sikat na online websites like facebook,google, youtube etc. ang tingin ko ang mga website na yon ay siguradong magkakaroon ng taxes tulad na lang mga mga youtubes,streamers etc. Pero nakuha din naman namen ang point mo since maraming members ang kumikita ng malaki dito sa forum.

Legality of declaring/filing all your income be it from signature campaigns or other types of digital services? That could form part of no. 3.

My question was "Are you aware that even if you declare your income from signature campaigns, you are not automatically required to pay taxes?". The bolded part wasn't an answer to that.

Just establish first its legality, if there's none, then you are not covered in the particular memorandum as per OP.

This is my answer to your question, I hope it's clear.

@mirakal Before we go any further, let's go back to this:
Are you aware that even if you declare your income from signature campaigns, you are not automatically required to pay taxes? As I said in the previous comment, you'll need to have a taxable net income tax that's higher than 250K before you're required to pay. Don't mistake filing/declaring income with paying taxes.

I am only citing an example here, I know if its required then we have to pay but do you really think all the online earners are paying taxes properly? No, most of them are not because they know that when they got caught, they would not face a serious sanction. Don't expect that anyone from here would honestly remit their income from signature campaign, it's just a micro earning, for me it's silly to remit it when the government does not even have an idea what is signature campaign and what definition it should fall based on OP's post.

Don't worry, government wouldn't  mind us since we don't have a legal contract with our employer.
If I may ask, if we remit this as part of our compensation what company will we put as our employer? and does not employer even recognize us?

Not your real name you can't enter into a legal contract, thus you are not required to pay tax on it as you can't bind mirakal into a contract when mirakal is not a person.

So why do you have to hide it if it's within the tax exempt bracket?

As long as you do it properly, you'll not be easily caught, and besides the earnings in signature campaign is just a small amount, why would we have to pay taxes on it. For example,  at my current campaign, I am earning php2500 per week or php 10,000 per month, but it's not stable as we will not know when it will stop. In tax on compensation, minimum wage earner are tax exempt and I guess I earn less than what the minimum wage earner earn in a yearly basis, so for me, it's not really reasonable.

Refer to the full text of the memorandum instead of the Digest.

It says there:
 
There's vagueness to the above quoted statement but the Deputy Commissioner already came forward and made that more clear for us. Read https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/06/18/bloggers-filmmakers-earning-from-digital-ads-required-to-register-bir/

In that article, it was stated that online merchants/businessmen covers those who are selling both goods and services. Tingin ko naman sapat na yun to explain why bloggers/content creators are covered in the memorandum.

My personal take:
Self-employed individuals were somewhat considered as Sole Proprietors in this case.
I was also hoping they would issue another memorandum to amend RMC No. 60-2020 at idagdag yung mga sinabi niya sa press conference.

Let's not argue the fact that the earnings from our signature campaign can be taxed or not dahil kung lumagpas ka sa tax bracket mo dahil na rin sa earnings mo from the signature campaign eh kailangan mo i-report yan at kailangan mo tuparin ang obligasyon mo magbayad mg tax. Pero yung nakakapagtaka dito is baka mali naman ang understanding ni Commissioner Guballa sa sarili nilang memorandun circular dahil ang kino-cover lang nito is businesses at hindi mga individual.


I've literally read the whole file at wala namang binanggit na apektado dito kung hindi ang mga businesses katulad ng mga online sellers, matanong ko nga kayo kailan pa naging business ang maging “blogger” o “content creator”? Oo kumikita sila dito from various ad revenues at additional sponsorships pero hindi mo naman masasabing “business” ito diba dahil individual ka lang dito. You are eother a self-employed individual o isang free lancer na kumikita ng income. By the definition palang ng “business” hindi na pasok ang isang blogger dito kasi ano namang produkto ang binibenta mo? Diba wala? Ang ad revenue in a sense is yung kita ng mga kumpanya sayo like Youtube allowing you to earn incentives sa pag monetize ng channel mo.  Pag-intindi palang ng business at ad revenue ay mali na ang mga binitaw na salita ni Guballa. Also ang termino na “ad revenue” wasn't even mentioned in the memorandum circular itself so sa tingin ko pinapalawak lang ni Guballa yung sakop ng circular na ito which is wrong.

Palagay ko, very complicated pa sa ngayon para sa ating mga mambabatas kung paano ba nila mahahabol yong mga kasali sa signature campaign dito dahil nga sila mismo ay hindi pa alam ang kalakaran dito.

Very visible kasi yong online selling at you tube blogging kaya napag-initan sila ng gobyerno na i-tax at medyo madali lang tingnan yong mga high earner dyan sa you tube blogging at recognize pa sila di kagaya natin dito sa crypto na medyo "anonymous".

Sa centralized world nga daming nakakalusot na hindi nakokolektahan ng taxes sa decentralised world pa kaya. Tsaka intindihin nalang natin na focus talaga ng government ngayon na makakolekta ng buwis pantapal sa mga ginastos at magagastos pa Covid-19 pandemic which is we don’t kung kailan matatapos ito.