The ever-growing record of followers of social media influencers has a new addition — the Income Tax division. According to a report within the Economic Times, the I-T division has despatched notices to fifteen social media influencers, who had not too long ago been on extravagant overseas journeys, for paying no or ‘considerably low’ tax for receiving enormous quantities by selling merchandise of luxurious manufacturers.The record of those that have acquired such discover, as per the report, features a high-profile style influencer, a life-style and health coach, journey influencers, and an influencer recognized for posts on Bollywood. The report additionally says that three of these influencers didn’t pay any quantity as tax whereas others had underreported their incomes by huge margins.Also Read | Sebi finalising draft dialogue paper over pointers for ‘finfluencers’30 extra such social media stars are on the radar of the I-T division for alleged tax evasion.According to the report, one Mumbai-based style influencer, who had declared an annual earnings of simply Rs 3.5 lakh, was paid over Rs 30 lakh for varied posts from a single firm. Besides this, the individual was additionally receiving items from such corporations.These providers are known as Online Information and Database Access or Retrieval Services (OIDAR), and underneath the products and providers tax regulation, these incomes over Rs 20 lakh in a fiscal 12 months must register their providers underneath this, which can then be taxed at 18 per cent.There can be a taxing mechanism for the items that these influencers obtain. On freebies and perks value over Rs 20,000 acquired from manufacturers for promotions, underneath Section 194R of the Income Tax Act, a ten per cent tax must be deducted at supply (TDS). This got here into impact from July final 12 months.As per the report, the supply of TDS helped officers monitor the earnings of such influencers.According to final 12 months’s Influencer Marketing Report, this market was value Rs 900 crore in 2021 and is projected to shoot as much as Rs 2,220 crore by 2025.
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