This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on May 18, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has begun studying businesses in the sharing economy, as it realises that there is potentially a substantial amount of income that could be taxed from these businesses, á la ride-sharing service Uber, said Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, with hopes that it could begin taxing digital-based businesses next year.

“We are already asking and talking to [the] Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to do a thorough evaluation to look into taxing these people, who are also earning taxable income.

“[And] we are interested in those who are doing businesses online, [who] should be registered with the Companies Commission [of] Malaysia (SSM), so we can track how much they are earning,” he told reporters yesterday, adding that the IRB had formed an online commerce division to look into this matter with SSM.

Mohd Irwan said there are currently no estimates of the potential amount of revenue lost. But using the Land Public Transport Commission’s findings of part-time Uber drivers earning around RM7,000 a month, he said that is already far above the current taxable personal income threshold of around RM3,000.

According to a news report in January, 60,000 people had been activated as Uber drivers. The ride-sharing service was looking to have the number increase to 100,000 this year.

Meanwhile, Mohd Irwan revealed that the finance ministry is working on the State-Owned Enterprises and Government-Linked Companies Act to champion government-linked companies’ reforms, to improve the governance of these corporations and to ensure compliance with its international commitments, as Malaysia is gearing up to joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

He said prices are still volatile and for most parts of early 2016, oil was trading within the assumed prices.

Bloomberg data showed the spot Brent crude price averaged at US$38.26 per barrel this year, up to Monday. It rose 0.84% to US$49.38 at the time of writing yesterday.

World Bank country manager for Malaysia Faris Hadad-Zervos said Malaysia’s growth story will continue to be sustainable as it targets to reach high-income status by 2020.

World Bank has revised down Malaysia’s growth estimate this year to 4.4% from 4.5%, which Faris said is still robust, driven by domestic consumption.