No plan by Malaysia to impose new tax on e-com activities: Minister

“Taxation policy is under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry and usually, any tax-related policy will be announced at the annual budget session,” he said during the oral question and answer session.

Meanwhile, on efforts to encourage youth participation in the digital economy, Annuar said the government’s main focus now was to ensure the country’s broadband connectivity could reach 100 per cent, apart from maintaining its quality.

The government is focusing on the rollout of the Jendela (National Digital Network) programmes to ensure 98 per cent of populated areas receive 4G coverage and can migrate from 3G, he was quoted as saying by Malaysian media reports.

Also, there is the Point of Presence (PoP) method involving fiberisation programme for 4,000 selected schools with an unstable internet connection,” he said.

According to Annuar, there were also other programmes that had been carried out to expand these efforts to rural areas, including the e-commerce campaign for small, medium and micro enterprises which reportedly benefited 204,262 participants.

In addition, he said the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) was tasked to promote mastery of the financial technology payment system (FinTech), e-commerce and other applications through ongoing and structured programmes, besides increasing the number of digital economic centres nationwide.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)