A few months ago, the government announced that the Sales and Service Tax (SST) is making its comeback after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was set to zero on 1 June 2018.
Following that, the government has recently revealed that a total of 5,443 consumer items are exempted from the tax, which will be implemented this Sunday (1 September 2018).
Source: The Malay Mail
The Malay Mail reported that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the amount of goods free from SST is 10 times more than goods that were exempted from GST. This is because GST only exempted 545 consumer goods when it was first implemented in April 2015.
Such a big difference!
According to the Customs Department deputy director-general, some of the consumer items that will be tax-free are as follows:
- Poultry (chicken, fish & meat)
- Daily food items (like rice, cooking oil and bread)
- General goods (newspapers & sanitary pads)
- Vehicles (bicycles, motorcycles below 250cc & forklifts)
- Private hospitals
- Domestic flights (with an exception for rural air services)
Source: The Star
On a different matter, it was reported that some of the consumer items will be taxed between 5-10 per cent while 25 categories of services will charge a 6 per cent service tax.
It was further disclosed that 793 goods will be taxed at 5 per cent and 5,612 items will fall under the 10 per cent tax bracket. Hence, amongst the items that will be taxed between 5 and 10 per cent are as mentioned below:
- Electrical appliances (like washing machines & radios)
- Personal items (like shampoo & shower gel)
- Processed foods (like fruit juice & butter)
Source: Fitness In Time
Meanwhile, Subromaniam shared that only 80,000 businesses have registered with SST as compared to the 472,000 businesses that registered with GST. He then added that 85 per cent of businesses in Malaysia will be exempted from the tax and small businesses will not be affected by it at all.
FYI, small businesses include small manufactures, cottage industries and small retailers.
Cottage industries | Source: Rural Marketing
With the SST coming back this Saturday (1 Sept), it’s best that we keep an eye on the changes in prices of goods and lodge a complaint if any business owners have violated the taxing law. Besides that, let’s also hope that the return of SST will do its part in reducing the cost of living.
What do you think of SST’s comeback? Leave us your thoughts in the comments!
Also read: All Menstrual Products Sold in Malaysia Will Now Be Officially Tax-Free!
