Various South East Asian countries look set to introduce an ecommerce tax in the near future. Currently, many countries in the region do not impose taxes on goods bought online. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are all in the process of introducing new tax laws that would cover ecommerce companies. A spokesperson from the Malaysian government said that they were going to “collect taxes from foreign companies that offer digital services in Malaysia”. The Thai government announced similar changes, saying that they intended to close a current loophole in the law that allows foreign ecommerce sites to sell tax-free in the country if the order amounts to less than 1,500 Thai baht. By taxing ecommerce sales, the countries will bring themselves in line with tax laws in the US and the EU, and also create a level playing field between online and offline businesses.
