Customs Dept says SST easy for firms, fair to people

Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy

PETALING JAYA: The Sales and Services Tax (SST), to be implemented from Sept 1 this year, will be easy for companies to manage and also takes into consideration the needs of the Bottom-40 household group, says the Customs Department.

Director-General Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy said the tax comprised three categories, namely zero per cent, five per cent and 10 per cent, but most goods would fall into the zero per cent category or zero-rated.

“Meanwhile, six per cent will be imposed on services but not all, when compared with the previous Goods and Services Tax (GST),” he told reporters here on Thursday.

Subromaniam said the tax would be re-introduced as SST 2.0 as much of its procedure would be Internet-based versus the previous traditional manual method, which would result in time and cost savings due to the reduction in bureaucracy.

“When compared with GST, it is also much simpler as we are only catching manufacturers and service providers.  

“All retailers will be out of the net, there is no filing costs and no compliance cost incurred,” he said, adding that while there were 472,000 companies registered in the GST regime, the Customs Department expected less than 100,000 businesses to be involved under SST 2.0.

Meanwhile, the Customs Department will upload the list of SST zero-rated goods on its website on Thursday.

On Aug 1, the GST website will convert to that of the SST.

The department will also start off its nationwide SST hand-holding programme beginning July 24, to help local industries transition to the SST system.

“I am sure if we can roll out the GST successfully, then there will be no problem with implementation of SST 2.0, “I expect the SST Bill to be approved next month,” said Subromaniam.

It was reported earlier that details on the improvements to the SST 2.0 would be announced when the new SST Bill is tabled in Parliament. - Bernama