How the BIR Taxes Affiliate Marketing and Referral Commission Income in the Philippines

Affiliate and referral commission income — from Shopee’s or Lazada’s affiliate programs, Amazon Associates, or any pay-per-sale referral link — is taxable business income under BIR rules, and in most cases nobody withholds tax on it before it reaches you. Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 97-2021 puts affiliate marketing commissions squarely inside the same self-employed, business-income classification as other content-creator earnings, but because the payor is usually a platform or network rather than a single Philippine brand, the ordinary expanded withholding tax (EWT) mechanism that produces a BIR Form 2307 often never applies — leaving registration, invoicing, and self-declared filing entirely on the affiliate.

Is affiliate and referral commission income actually taxable? #

Yes — RMC No. 97-2021, issued August 16, 2021, expressly lists affiliate marketing commissions among the monetization channels that make an individual creator a self-employed person engaged in trade or business for BIR purposes. The circular treats income earned through a unique tracking link or referral code — where a platform pays a commission for each conversion it attributes to that link — the same way it treats YouTube ad revenue, sponsored posts, and e-book sales: as ordinary business income, not a gift, hobby payout, or tax-free platform reward.

That classification doesn’t change based on where the affiliate network is based. A Filipino blogger earning commissions from Shopee’s or Lazada’s Philippine-operated affiliate programs and one earning commissions from Amazon Associates, ShareASale, or a similar US-based network are both self-employed individuals for BIR purposes — the location of the payor affects who withholds, covered next, not whether the income is taxable.

How does affiliate commission income differ from a sponsored-content fee? #

An affiliate commission and a sponsored-content fee are both taxable to the creator, but they differ in who pays, how the amount is set, and — critically — whether Philippine withholding tax typically applies. A sponsored-content fee is a fixed sum a single brand negotiates directly with a creator for a specific post or campaign; an affiliate commission is a variable, per-sale amount a platform or network pays automatically based on tracked link conversions, often across many small transactions rather than one invoice.

For the sponsored-content side of this comparison — including the 5%/10% withholding rate a brand applies and a worked example of a BIR Form 2307 issued to an influencer — see Does Your Brand Need to Withhold Tax When Paying a Social Media Influencer?, part of the BIR Form 2307 series.

Registering as a self-employed affiliate marketer with the BIR #

Earning affiliate commissions makes you a self-employed individual for BIR purposes from the first peso, and registration is meant to happen before, not after, that income starts. The process is the same one used for any other self-employed content creator or freelancer:

1. Secure or confirm a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) at the Revenue District Office (RDO) covering your home address.
2. File BIR Form 1901 as a self-employed individual/professional, with the standard supporting documents.
3. Pay the registration fee and register your books of accounts.
4. Register for invoicing under the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act rules, covered below.
5. Choose an income tax regime — the 8% flat option or the graduated rates — no later than your first quarterly return of the year.

Registration produces a Certificate of Registration (BIR Form 2303), which lists the specific returns you’re required to file — income tax, and either percentage tax or VAT depending on projected gross receipts. An affiliate marketer who started earning commissions before registering doesn’t get a pass on income already earned; the income earned before registration is still declarable, and the practical fix is registering now and catching up filings for the periods already worked.

Does Shopee, Lazada, or Amazon Associates withhold tax on your commissions? #

Usually not, and this is the single most important thing to understand about affiliate income specifically — you generally cannot rely on a withholding certificate to cover part of your tax bill the way a professional-fee client might provide one. Two separate withholding questions get conflated here, and it’s worth keeping them apart:

• Marketplace seller withholding. Under RR No. 16-2023, as amended by RR No. 5-2025 and reiterated in RMC No. 55-2026, an electronic marketplace operator or digital financial services provider (DFSP) operating in the Philippines is required to withhold on gross remittances to sellers or merchants for goods or services transacted through its platform. This rule was built for online sellers of goods, not for affiliates earning a referral commission — see RMC No. 55-2026: Alphalist Rules for E-Marketplace Operators and DFSPs for the mechanics. Whether a platform applies this same withholding logic to its own affiliate-commission payouts (a different income stream from seller remittances) is not something an affiliate should assume either way without checking directly with the specific program’s payout terms.
• Offshore affiliate networks. Amazon Associates and most other US- or foreign-based affiliate networks have no registered Philippine presence and no legal mechanism to withhold Philippine tax — the same structural gap already documented for Upwork and Fiverr client payments. No BIR Form 2307 will ever arrive from a program like this, because it isn’t a Philippine withholding agent to begin with.

The practical consequence either way is the same: don’t wait for a certificate that may never come. Confirm directly with each affiliate program whether it deducts anything before payout, but plan your quarterly cash flow assuming the full commission arrives gross and the entire computed tax is yours to set aside and remit.

Issuing receipts and invoices under EOPT #

As a BIR-registered self-employed individual, you’re required to issue an Invoice for services rendered under the Ease of Paying Taxes (EOPT) Act, Republic Act No. 11976 — a requirement that applies to your affiliate-referral activity even though the “sale” is really a platform crediting your account, not a client paying a bill you sent them. RR No. 7-2024 replaced the old Official Receipt with the Invoice as the primary BIR-prescribed document for services, and RR No. 3-2024 shifted VAT-registered sellers of services to recognizing output tax on an accrual (invoice-issuance) basis rather than waiting for collection.

In practice, most affiliate marketers issue a periodic Invoice to themselves for BIR record-keeping purposes, matched to the payout summary or commission statement the platform provides — since Shopee, Lazada, and Amazon Associates don’t request an invoice from you the way a client does, the discipline of generating one yourself, tied to each payout period, is what keeps your books auditable.

Which income tax return applies, and when #

A registered affiliate marketer follows the same income tax election every other self-employed individual under the ₱3,000,000 gross-receipts threshold uses: the 8% flat option on gross receipts, or the graduated income tax rates on net income after deductible expenses. The 8% option, available under the TRAIN Law (Republic Act No. 10963) in lieu of both the graduated table and the 3% percentage tax otherwise due under NIRC Section 116, applies whether the affiliate commissions come from a Philippine platform or an offshore program — the currency and the payor’s location don’t change the election.

• BIR Form 1701Q — quarterly income tax return for the first three quarters.
• BIR Form 1701A (8% option, or graduated with no other income) or BIR Form 1701 (graduated with mixed income sources) — the annual reconciliation.
• BIR Form 2551Q — quarterly percentage tax, if not using the 8% option and gross receipts stay at or below ₱3,000,000.
• BIR Form 2550Q/2550M — VAT, mandatory once gross sales/receipts exceed ₱3,000,000 under NIRC Section 236.

Because most affiliate payors don’t withhold, there’s typically no BIR Form 2307 to credit against any of these returns — the computed tax due each quarter has to come directly out of commissions already received, which is why setting aside a fixed percentage of every payout as it lands (rather than waiting until the filing deadline) matters more for affiliate income than for income where a client’s withholding already trims part of the bill.

Worked example: a Cebu-based affiliate blogger’s monthly commissions #

Mara runs a home-and-lifestyle blog and earns affiliate commissions from two sources: Shopee’s affiliate program (Philippine-operated) and Amazon Associates (US-based), with no other income. Neither program withholds anything from her payouts.

Because her gross annual receipts sit well below the ₱3,000,000 VAT threshold, Mara elects the 8% flat income tax option, which also waives the 3% percentage tax under NIRC Section 116. Her ₱23,392 annual income tax liability is paid entirely out of pocket across her quarterly filings, spread out as her Shopee and Amazon payouts land through the year, since no withholding certificate from either program reduces the amount due.

Frequently Asked Questions #

Is income from affiliate marketing and referral links taxable in the Philippines? #

Yes. Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 97-2021 lists affiliate marketing commissions among the monetization channels that make a content creator or website owner a self-employed individual for BIR purposes, with income that is taxable the same way regardless of whether it comes from a Philippine platform like Shopee or Lazada, or an offshore program like Amazon Associates.

Does Shopee, Lazada, or Amazon Associates withhold tax on my affiliate commissions? #

Not automatically, and you shouldn’t assume it happens. The domestic withholding rule under RR No. 16-2023, as amended by RR No. 5-2025, targets e-marketplace remittances to sellers and merchants of goods and services — a different income stream from a referral commission the same platform pays an affiliate. Amazon Associates and most other offshore affiliate networks have no registered Philippine withholding-agent presence at all, so no BIR Form 2307 is issued on those commissions.

Do I need to register with the BIR before earning affiliate commissions? #

Yes, ideally before your first payout. Affiliate commission income makes you a self-employed individual engaged in trade or business, and BIR registration is meant to happen using BIR Form 1901 before that income starts, resulting in a Certificate of Registration (BIR Form 2303) that lists the returns you must file going forward.

How is affiliate commission income different from a brand’s sponsored-content fee? #

An affiliate commission is a variable, per-sale amount paid by a platform or network based on tracked conversions through your referral link, while a sponsored-content fee is typically a fixed amount a single brand negotiates and pays directly for a specific post or campaign. That difference in payor matters for withholding: a Philippine brand paying a sponsored fee is often a withholding agent that issues BIR Form 2307, while the platform or network behind an affiliate commission frequently is not.

Which BIR forms do I file if no tax was withheld on my affiliate income? #

You file BIR Form 1701Q quarterly and BIR Form 1701A or 1701 annually for income tax, plus BIR Form 2551Q for percentage tax or BIR Form 2550Q/2550M for VAT depending on your gross receipts, the same forms any self-employed individual files. With no BIR Form 2307 issued on unwithheld affiliate commissions, there are no creditable withholding tax credits to offset — the full computed tax is paid directly.

Summary #

Affiliate and referral commission income from Shopee, Lazada, Amazon Associates, or any similar pay-per-sale program is taxable business income under RMC No. 97-2021, on the same footing as ad revenue or sponsored posts — but because the payor is a platform or network rather than a single Philippine brand, the ordinary withholding mechanism that produces a BIR Form 2307 often doesn’t apply. Register with BIR Form 1901 before your first payout, issue Invoices under the EOPT Act for your own records, and budget for paying the full computed tax yourself each quarter rather than expecting a withholding certificate to arrive. For the sponsored-content comparison, see Does Your Brand Need to Withhold Tax When Paying a Social Media Influencer?; for the closest parallel among unwithheld online income streams, see How the BIR Taxes Freelance Income from Upwork, Fiverr, and Other Online Marketplaces; and for the broader creator-income registration baseline, see BIR Tax Obligations for Online Sellers and Content Creators. Consult the BIR or a qualified tax professional to confirm your specific registration category before filing.