Durban influencer backs SARS tax for social media earnings
A local content creator believes the plan by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) to place social media influencers in their own taxpayer category is fair.
SARS says anyone making money online through brand collaborations, sponsored posts, or affiliate marketing must declare their earnings.
This includes free products and travel perks.
The taxman is warning that those who fail to disclose their income will face the same penalties as any other taxpayer.
Caitlin Hood is a full-time social media influencer based in Durban.
" The SARS tax bracket implementation has pulled a respect card for us in the industry and brought a level of recognition and acknowledgement that our work is actually a legitimate career within marketing and not just a hobby.
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"From my experience of being in this industry for the past three years, I was very early on encouraged to look at what I do as a job, and to treat it as a business."
Hood says while she supports the move, she believes SARS should clarify a few things.
" What is going to be taxable? For example, a brand reaches out to you and says, oh, we want to partner with you but do a trade exchange for a product that's X value, then that is deemed taxable.
"But if they don't stipulate what the value is, then it's not deemed as taxable. So, I think they need to collaborate with agencies and work together to create clear guidelines so that confusion is minimised and ultimately content creators and brands are protected moving forward.”
SARS says it will offer education and support to influencers.
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