KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 17 — The government has collected roughly RM427.6 million to date from the 6 per cent tax on digital services imposed on local and foreign providers since January 1.
Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said this in reply to Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) who asked about the total collected tax amount during the debate on the Service Tax (Amendment) Bill 2020 here in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“As of December 11, the amount collected stands at RM427,647,643.51 which is the tax imposed on digital service providers operating in Malaysia,” he said.
The government extended the digital service tax to foreign digital service providers on January 1, with the tax already imposed on local digital service providers prior to that.
Previously, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had said in a written parliamentary reply that a total of 248 foreign service providers registered for the tax as of July 31 this year.
Some of the providers included established names such as Steam, Netflix Inc, Spotify AB, Google LLC and Airbnb Inc.
Digital services are categorised by the Customs Department as including software, applications, video games, online subscriptions, streaming services, online advertisements, online trading platforms, online training, payment processing services, search engines and social networks, database and hosting services and internet-based telecommunication.
