Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA) has introduced a tax on social media influencers as it seeks to increase its revenues from high earners in platforms like Instagram.

A decree signed by INTA chief Omid Ali Parsa published in local media outlets on Wednesday said that taxation of major influencers on social media platforms was in line with Iran’s budget law of the calendar year to March 2022.
“The income gained from advertising by social media users with a following of more than 500,000 would be subject to income tax,” read the decree.
It said the INTA would have two months to compile regulations and laws on the new tax scheme to submit it for final approval by the Iranian finance ministry.

It said the list of social media influencers that are taxable will be published on the website of the INTA after they are identified.

The announcement comes as Iran is continuing to expand its taxation schemes as part of government efforts to diversify the economy away from crude oil.