E-Commerce Taxation – To Pay or Not To Pay?

Effective 1 January 2020, Malaysia has expanded the scope of service tax to cover digital services.

Remember the time when going out for shopping is something we look forward to? For most of us, gone are those days. In this
day and age where multi-tasking is the new norm in our increasingly hectic lives, technology has fed our desire to get things done in the most convenient manner.

Technology has enabled “electronic commerce” (e-commerce) where we get to do “virtual window- shopping” within the comforts of our home or indeed, wherever we are in the world at any time of the day.

If you are an entrepreneur aspiring to create an online business, or if you are already involved in an online business,
or if you are an end-consumer acquiring digital services, have you wondered if there is a tax cost to these transactions? If there is, who is to pay for the tax?

Are e-commerce transactions subject to tax? From an income tax perspective, Malaysia adopts the territorial scope of taxation where the income derived from or sourced in Malaysia is subject to tax. Income is said to be derived from Malaysia where the activities generating such income are carried out in Malaysia.

Source: SmartInvestor

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By Jeff Lai