#Bajet2022: No Tax For E-Sports Winnings
Tengku Abdul celebrated the achievements of NothingToSay, xNova, Mushi, and Oli while tabling the Supply Bill 2022 in the Parliament today, 29 October.
By Yap Wan Xiang — 29 Oct 2021, 06:18 PM
During the tabling of Bajet 2022 today, 29 October, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul proposed several implementations to foster the e-sports scene in Malaysia.
Among them is to provide full tax exemption on e-sports tournament prize money.
Speaking at the Parliament, Zafrul said he is happy to learn that there are local youth e-sports athletes who managed to achieve outstanding achievements at an international tournament in Romania recently.
Zafrul is believed to be referring to The International 10 (TI10), the tenth iteration of the DOTA 2 flagship championship that had a total prize pool of USD40 million (about RM166 million).
In the tournament, Malaysian professional gamer Cheng Jin Xiang — better known as NothingToSay — won a share of RM21 million for finishing second with his China-based team.
"Success like this is proof that our country has young talents that need to be supported and polished," the Finance Minister said.
"In recognition of the achievements of Malaysian-born e-sports athletes who have made Malaysia proud such as NothingToSay, xNova, Mushi, and Oli, the government intends to provide income tax exemption on eligible e-sports tournament prize money."
Other than tax exemptions on championship prize money, Zafrul also said the government has proposed to allocate RM20 million to grow the e-sports scene in Malaysia
He said e-sports are now a new phenomenon among the youths and is seen to have good prospects for the development of the country's sports.
The minister also said RM5 million will be used to build a drone sports centre.
