Revenue service clarifies taxing of social influencers

Social media influencers must declare all sources of income when it comes to taxation.

This clarification follows recent headlines about the South African Revenue Service (Sars) taxing influencers for gifts received.

“Sars is looking forward to working with this segment to provide clarity and certainty, but also to provide them with a seamless taxpayer experience,” said Edward Kieswetter, Sars commissioner.

“Sars is more than willing to assist honest taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations. I am reminding social influencers to uphold their end of the bargain.

“Complementing this segmentation is our use of data to augment efforts to deepen a culture of voluntary compliance while managing risks.”

Sars’ segmentation model includes

• Standard taxpayers with a single income and simple returns

• Large and international businesses

• High wealth individuals

• Public benefit organisations

• Prominent and related entities

• Estates

• Tax practitioners

• Employers

Additions to the segmentation model

• National and provincial government

• Social influencers (sole proprietors or independent contractors)

• The gig economy

For each of these segments, Sars notes it has an engagement model, the first step of which is to provide clarity, making it easier for taxpayers to comply.

Regarding the social influencers’ economy, the revenue service indicates that traditional marketing campaigns are increasingly digitising through smart technologies.

“Sars is generally finding that most marketing budgets are contracting social personalities to lend their image to digital platforms.

“This is a shift away from established marketing houses toward individuals with a sizeable following. As the marketing spend-mix changes in response to these shifts, Sars is also adapting its educational and compliance initiatives,” the statement explains.

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