Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) yesterday urged the government to create rules for taxing online content creators, citing widespread confusion in the industry.
Chiu made the comment at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
A YouTuber known as “Hsiao Yu” (小玉) was recently made to pay NT$460,000 to the Taxation Administration for being in arrears after he confessed to viewers that he netted millions from streaming, but did not know if taxes were owed on that income, Chiu said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The incident showed that the Ministry of Finance has failed to draft rules and guidelines for taxing the content creation industry, he said.
Tax payment has become entirely dependent on voluntary compliance while some well-meaning creators do not know how to comply with rules that have not been written yet, Chiu said.
Influencers and creators do not readily fall under the existing categories of taxable income stipulated by the Income Tax Act (所得稅法), especially those with 1,000 to 300,000 subscribers and no company registered under their name, he said.
Many creators work under contract with other commercial entities or collect revenue through an online service, causing further complications with taxes, Chiu said, adding that officials are hard-pressed to apply the law or calculate the appropriate amount of taxes owed.
The ministry needs to draft regulations and guidelines governing taxing income stemming from online content, and to review the effectiveness of these rules, he said.
Taxation Administration Deputy Director-General Ni Li-hsin (倪麗心) said that content creators should report all income for tax purposes, adding that it is no different from traditional lines of employment.
According to the law, taxes must be paid for any salary and payment for representing brands, or merchandise sales exceeding the tax exemption limit, she said.
“There is no special treatment for influencers,” she added.
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