A spokesman for the company said this following a report yesterday quoting Customs director-general T Subromaniam as saying that digital streaming services like Netflix and iflix would be taxed under proposed amendments to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act.
“iflix already charges, reports and pays Malaysian GST for all services and has been GST compliant since we first made our service available to consumers throughout Malaysia,” the company’s consumer public relations manager Conrad Bateman said in a brief email.
Yesterday, Subromaniam said that the proposed amendments had already been submitted to the finance ministry.
“We hope to have these amendments tabled in the upcoming 2018 Budget,” he had said, adding that engagement with the industry was ongoing.
Subromaniam’s statement caused an uproar among social media users who felt that the scope of the tax was being extended too far, burdening consumers for transactions even over the internet.
Facebook user Tesla Navier said if left unchecked, the government may levy the tax on other online services as well.
“This govt needs to go otherwise (we) will have to pay for WhatsApp and every time we breathe in Malaysia we will be taxed also,” he said.
Another user, Sweekeng Lim, had asked what had happened to the government’s duty to care for the people.
“Where is the taking care of rakyat mentality gone to in Malaysian government? Asking money from its people all the time, becoming a heartless, greedy monster sucking the fun and joy out of every Malaysian,” he had said.