BIR taps big online sellers, monitors socmed for data

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) will only go after big-time online sellers despite the prodding of Senator Raffy Tulfo to run after smugglers instead of small social-media influencers and vendors.

BIR Commissioner Lilia Guillermo said Friday the agency will only run after the big sellers, and that she has sought the help of e-commerce giants Shopee and Lazada.

Though she did not give details of what makes a large online seller, Guillermo said at the sidelines of the SGV Tax Symposium in Makati City that social media has a lot of data the BIR can collect, including the number of likes and followers for an online store.

The bureau will again begin to monitor those…