Hopes of OECD Pillar 1 progress puts Australia on watch status for digital levy
Australia does not operate a Digital Services Tax, a revenue levy on providers of digital ad’s, content and data services. Whilst it did review the possibility in 2019, but most parties in a national consultation called for continuing progress on the OECD Pillar 1 reform to digital taxing rights.
Many stakeholders raised significant concerns about the potential impact of an Australian interim measure across a wide range of Australian businesses and consumers, including discouraging innovation and competition, adversely affecting start-ups and low-margin businesses, and the potential for double taxation.
On 21 February 2025, US President Trump’s administration named Australia in a review of DST retaliatory tariffs. The White House had already announced in January it was pulling out of the OECD talks on global tax reforms.
Separately, Australian GST on digital services at 10% has been in place since 2017. This seeks to tax the consumption of digital or electronic services by Australian consumers.
Asia Pacific Digital Services Taxes (DST)
| Country | Status | Rate | Annual sales threshold | Scope | |
| In-country income | Global income | ||||
| Australia | - | Ruled out subject to OECD negotiations | |||
| India | Jun 2016 | 6% | Rs 2cores | n/a | Advertising |
| India | Apr 2020 | 2% | INR 20m | n/a | Goods and digital services |
| Indonesia | Mar 2020 | TBC | E-commerce | ||
| Laos | Feb 2024 | TBC | Streaming; ad's; travel & hotel online | ||
| Nepal | Jul 2022 | 2% | NPR 2m | Electronic & digital services | |
| New Zealand | Jan 2025 | 3% | NZ$3.5m | NZ$1.1bn | Social media; Content sharing; Search engine; user data; Intermediation; |
| Pakistan | Sep 2021 | 2% | Nil | Nil | Withholding tax on marketplaces |
| Kyrgystan | Jan 2022 | 2% | Nil | Nil | Tax on digital services B2B and B2C |
| Taiwan | Jan 2017 | WHT Digital and electronic services | |||
| Vietnam | Jan 2021 | 1.5% | Ecommerce tax WHT | ||
