How much tax MTN pays
MTN paid R8.1 billion in taxes to the South African government in 2022, according to the company’s latest tax report.
This is a 50% increase from the year before, where tax revenue totalled R5.4 billion.
The MTN Group had a bumper year in 2022, with profits surging by over 40% to R24 billion.
Despite this, the company pointed to the operating environment in South Africa as a challenge. Load-shedding, high-interest rates, sluggish economic growth, and high interest rates were all flagged as issues.
The company said its South African division performed resiliently despite this.
Revenue in South Africa increased by 3.9% from R48.7 billion to R50.6 billion. Service revenue increased by 3.6% from R39.4 billion to R40.8 billion.
To give an idea of the scale of MTN’s tax contribution to the fiscus, consider that the South African Revenue Service collected R1.69 trillion in the last financial year, between March 2022 and February 2023.
Therefore, MTN contributed nearly half a per cent, or 0.48%, of all the taxes paid in South Africa in 2022.
MTN’s total tax bill
MTN’s South African division made up 15.7% of the telecommunication giants’ tax bill — the second-most of any country behind Nigeria. Its tax contribution to Nigeria last year was R13.2 billion.
MTN started operating in South Africa in 1993 but has since expanded across the continent to become the largest telecommunications company in Africa.
The West Central African region of MTN’s operation, which comprises Ghana, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire, amongst other nations, makes up the largest component of the company’s tax bill and represents 39% of its tax burden.
MTN contributed R7.6 billion in taxes to Ghana during 2022.
Ghana’s tax authority tried to slap MTN with a R11.7-billion bill for back taxes, interest, and penalties, claiming the operator under-reported its revenue by 30% between 2014 and 2018.
The country eventually backed off after pressure from the South African government and “extensive and productive discussions”.
MTN footed a R51.5 billion tax bill across all its operations. This was substantially up from the R44.4 billion it reported it paid in 2021.
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