Here’s why Selangor’s new entertainment tax cut won’t affect us THAT much.

Hey, the Selangor government’s abolishing entertainment tax until the end of this year! Sounds fantastic, cuz if there’s no entertainment tax, that means movie tickets, karaoke sessions, and going for drinks at your local bar are all gonna be cheaper. Right? RIGHT?

Nooooot exactly. While the things above are what people tend to think of when “entertainment tax” is brought up, from what we could tell…

The new tax cut only applies to performances by local artistes

Earlier in the year, there was an outcry from multiple parties – creative industry players, cinema operators and restaurant owners – calling for the Selangor government to waive taxes that they had to pay upfront so they could rally back from losses suffered over the past two years. Apparently, the entertainment duty for live performers was set at 5%, but in January of last year, it was raised to 15%:

Previously, the industry was either given duty exemptions or the duty was set at five per cent. The current 15 per cent duty is, therefore, an increase. – Arts, Live Festival and Events Association (ALIFE) president Rizal Kamal

In response, the entertainment tax for performances by local artistes were fully waived for the year 2022. The catch, according to Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, was that:

…the exemption will not apply to foreign artistes.

So uh, no partial refunds for y’all who bought tickets for Justin Bieber’s upcoming concert at Bukit Jalil.

More bad news: unfortunately for cinema operators, no changes were made to the 25% that they have to pay in entertainment tax, and since no other entertainment options were mentioned in the tax waiver, in all likelihood…

Movie tickets and other types of hiburan stuff won’t be cheaper

Full disclosure – we couldn’t find a comprehensive list of all the entertainment outlets that the entertainment tax covers, but from past tax reports published on the official Selangor portal and this 2014 GST guide on the entertainment industry, the new tax cut PROBABLY WON’T AFFECT the prices of:

• Movie tickets
• Karaoke
• Arcades
• Bowling
• Snooker
• Circuses (if they still exist)

…and other fun stuff that we couldn’t think of off the top of our heads. Thing is, even if entertainment tax for these businesses were to be waived, there’s really no guarantee that prices for tickets or entrance fees will be any cheaper, cuz prices are ultimately set by the businesses themselves. We sure didn’t hear anything about lower ticket prices for amusement parks in Selangor when the state government reduced the tax on their entrance fees from 25% to 5% until the end of 2026.

Anyway, if we’ve missed any types of businesses or activities that the entertainment tax covers, let us know in the comments section.