In an April 22, 2024 stream, new VShojo Vtuber Michi Mochievee went over tax issues she encountered when working for her former employer and the level of support she is now experiencing at VShojo. After a story discussing her “first and hopefully last financial problem,” she discussed how she’s doing better, has health insurance back, and has support from people at the company.
Things started At the 1 hour and 52 minute mark of her April 28, 2024 Twitch stream, Michi Mochievee discussed the past tax problem she encountered. She began by explaining how the tax system in Indonesia worked and the arrangement she set up with a former employer, but then went into more detail about how the taxes being withheld didn’t go as planned. She also followed it all up by saying things are now sorted and she’s getting the health insurance settled as well.
Here are some transcribed segments from the Michi Mochievee going over her past situation:
I did have one issue that put me in a really bad place. Because this was my first and hopefully last financial problem I’ve ever really encountered. Because of like, it wasn’t even my fault. Right? Cause like, keep in mind, I’m insanely paranoid about this, so I’ve always been scared about being in debt. And here’s my little story.
Please, do not like… I know some people will speculate and shit, like I just want you to know: It’s already over. It’s in the past. No specu-speculating. It’s just something that I… a story that I can finally tell. Right…
…So I started filing my taxes. So ever since, like basically the government has a record that I have always been a law-abiding citizen. Right? I always pay my taxes. I always do my reports. Everything’s good and dandy, until I worked in a different job. And basically here in my country, I don’t know if it’s very common all over the world, but for Indonesia there is an option where your company files your taxes for you and they pay your taxes for you. That is a very, very common practice. Right? You have to be employed under them, though.
So what they do is, let’s say they give you a fixed amount. Like, okay, every month I will give you $500 USD. Every month I’ll give you $500 USD, but I will take 10% out of that to pay for your taxes. But you still have to report it. You still have to report your taxes and everything, but you don’t have to pay it outside of your own card. Like the employer kind of sorts it out for you, and that’s good and dandy. Like that is a choice…
…So basically your income is like a fixed rate, you don’t have to stress about paying anything by the end of the year. The company does it, but you still have to file it.
So, during this time, because my earnings was not a fixed rate… so it’s like sometimes on good days I earn more. Bad days, I don’t. Like it’s not a fixed rate. [The former employer] did offer to take a certain percentage. They say they’ll take a certain percentage to pay for the taxes. And that was a big saver for me because for so long I’ve only ever needed to copy-paste my income and then my expenses and stuff like that. And it’s like easy.
Back to the story a little, With the taxes thing, right? It was very… I was very, very grateful that they offered to basically pay the taxes for me like that was still an option. Because that way I don’t have to worry too, too much. …Like I would rather overpay tax than underpay tax. That’s the kind of person I am.
…So we had a whole system set up, and basically for like two years, I never spent any money out of my own wallet to pay the tax. I did send a, like I did file them, but I never really spent money because every month, they took 10% anyways for my taxes. Right? And like that’s what we discussed and it was written even that it’s like, “Oh, yeah, they took money for taxes.” It’s not like oh it’s just a verbal thing. You don’t know if they did. They did. There’s written proof that they did. So I never really spent any money out of my own wallet because it’s already deducted. Right?
And then TLDR, two years later, I got sent a letter from my local government that I have actually been avoiding taxes. And they were like onto my my ass. They were like, “Hey, by the way, you haven’t paid your taxes in two years. And according to your report, you have earned a significant amount compared to your last paid taxes, and you are late by like two years so we will have to add interest fees.” And that’s when I start shitting myself a little bit. Because I was like, “What do you mean, I haven’t paid? I have paid.” And in the paper, it said, “If you are, if you do not sort your shit in a week, we will have to bring you to court.”
…I shat myself. Like I had such a mental mind break. Dude, I freaked out so hard, but at that time I was like, oh, it’s probably a misunderstanding. Right? Like maybe it’s a misunderstanding. So I contacted… like one of my friend’s dad is a lawyer, so I asked them for advice. I was like, “Hey, what should I do?” I’m pretty sure it’s a misunderstanding. I know I’ve paid my taxes. I have proof that I got like money deducted every month specifically under the category of tax. So I know I have… I’m… I’m a good, law-abiding citizen and my track record’s clean.” So I was so fucking scared, dude.
…My friend’s dad helped me, like write stuff up and basically tell the government, like my local government, to be like “Hey, misunderstanding happened, what can I do to resolve this misunderstanding?” So I sent it to them. And then they came back to me three days later basically being like, “Okay, send us proof of…” Like when you file taxes you get… a code that says that you did file it. And it’s not just like, “Oh, I said I did.” …So they’re like, “Okay, send us all transfer, like, proof. Like the code of proof that you actually did transfer the money.”
So I was like, “Okay, I can just ask my employer, right?” So I asked them. I was like, “Hey, I need all of this.” Like it’s a whole list. It’s a lot. It’s a lot because it’s been two years. Like two years backlog. …I think there was like genuinely like 28 files that I had to make, like by myself, and I sent it to them. And I was like, “Hey, this is the thing. Like I just, you know, I just need the funny little numbers. right? And all my problems will go away.”
And that’s when I found out, I did not know this. I was not aware of this. To be fair, no one really made it, made me aware of this either. But I don’t know if it’s… I’m not blaming anyone. I’m not pointing fingers. If anything, I did blame myself for not researching, but apparently those are not my taxes. Those are [my former employer’s] taxes. Until today, I still don’t get it fully, so I’m not going to go into… I’m not going to go deep into it.
Michi Mochievee
Michi Mochievee isn’t the first VShojo Vtuber who encountered tax problems with a former employer and discussed the situation on stream. Kuro also brought it up in a stream shortly after joining the company in October 2023. When he did, he noted how VShojo CEO Justin “Gunrun” Ignacio and Ironmouse helped him with his tax problems.
As a reminder, Michi Mochievee also discussed how her experience as a Vtuber at VShojo differed from past jobs with other employers during an April 23, 2024 stream on YouTube. At one point, she said, “I thought for sure that I was not gonna join VShojo. Cause like who, who in their right mind, would hire someone that’s like, that willingly admitted the fact that they can be dysfunctional? Right?” She then later said, “All VShojo has ever told me is like, ‘We have someone to help.’ Like that’s always the response.”
The next Michi Mochievee stream will be a Party Animals VShojo collab stream on Twitch at 8pm PT/11pm ET.
