The news of Mzansi megastar Bonang Matheba facing R7m in tax debt to the SA Revenue Service (Sars) is bringing into sharp focus the thorny issue of taxing high-profile internet personalities, better known as influencers.
This is because the issue opens doors for tax policies that have not been extensively tried or modelled anywhere else in the world to cover a category of high-income earners that were previously not accounted for in tax administration or tax policy.
TshisaLIVE has reported that a recent notice of final debt collection issued against Matheba appears to form part of a broader compliance drive by Sars targeting traditional and online media personalities.
Bonang’s profile in South African entertainment predates the social media revolution, as the veteran’s start in media can be traced as far back as 2002 on the Manhattan Fantasy Challenge and later Live AMP.
However, her 5.3-million followers on Instagram, more than 578,900 followers on TikTok who have amassed more than 4-million likes for her on the platform, 2.2-million followers on Facebook, over 91,200 subscribers on YouTube and 5.5-million followers on the app formerly known as Twitter carry heft in a mass media landscape where internet apps are winning the war for audience attention.
As a result, this is also about how a medium of marketing, advertising and entertainment has managed to fly under the radar in South Africa and other jurisdictions when it comes to matters of taxation.
Even Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter told Sunday Times on the week of the 2026 budget speech that the methodologies and modalities of getting tax revenue from thriving social media influencers are a puzzle that various countries have been working to figure out in platforms, including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
“We are, in a way, in uncharted territory, but also in many cases, we are struggling alongside. We work together with our OECD peers so we can accelerate our load … If you think of the digital marketing sector, their business models are changing from billboards and TV adverts to social media.
“If you assume that the digital marketing, the ad marketing size of the business is, let’s pick a number, let’s say it’s R30bn, then at least half of that has shifted to social media. So that’s the first one. But they are formalised, they are already registered, so it’s not as if none of that is captured.
“Then if you add to that individuals, not formal digital marketing agencies, who have entered that space — this would be influencers that are on TikTok, on YouTube, who get a following, and then monetise this following … We are saying, look, all forms of income, regardless of how you make it, must be taxed. If you’re earning, from whatever activities, higher than the threshold, you are subject to paying tax.”
Kieswetter said influencers are not typically employed through a payroll, and are therefore expected to register for provisional tax and honour their tax obligation. He said this means that the general approach is being used to make influencers aware of their responsibility to pay tax, but the door remains open for Sars to engage with influencers on the matter.
The fallout from influencers’ foibles has not been victimless.
Last year, high-profile social media influencer Cyan Boujee found herself in hot water when a scheme that she promoted for work opportunities in Russia for South African women turned out to be an alleged recruitment scheme for a weapons factory in Russia’s war on Ukraine. She has since apologised for promoting the scheme on her platforms.
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