Malaysia Budget 2019: Streaming and other online-based services subject to tax from 1 Jan 2020

At the tabling of the 2019 Malaysian budget (#Belanjawan2019) today Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng announced that international online streaming and other online-based services like Netflix, Spotify and Steam, among others, will be subjected to tax from January 1, 2020.

This move is to level the playing field between local and international online-based service providers, according to the premier.

The amount of tax that will be levied on these services and how it will be implemented is not revealed as yet but this will mean that the popular services will cost more come January 2020.

Recently, in its quarterly financial report for Q3 2018, Spotify announced that the platform has 191 million monthly active users, 87 million of which are paid. This translates to a 28% increase in the active monthly users compared to the same quarter last year while active paid users increased 40%.