In line with Malaysia’s Service Tax (Amendment) Act 2019, Sony’s PlayStation Store will apply a 6% SST to any purchasable items and subscription services on their platform. This will take effect from 1st January 2020 at 8.00am (Malaysian Time).
According to the announcement, the price update for items will be implemented between 4th to 6th January 2020 but you will see the final price with the 6% tax on the check out page starting next year.
Sony has also clarified that the 6% digital tax does not apply when you top up your wallet in the PlayStation Store. Apart from the tax, there are no further changes for the PlayStation Plus subscription. At the moment, 1-month subscription costs RM29/month while an annual subscription is going for RM159/year.
To recap, the 6% digital tax was first announced during the Budget 2019 budget announcement. It will cover all online services which include subscriptions for music, games, movie, software, enterprise solutions and even online advertising. When it was introduced, the tax for online services is aimed at levelling the playing field for local businesses and it is estimated that the Malaysian government will collect around RM2.4 billion each year.