Cigarettes sold in restaurants, salted fish, some seafood now SST-exempt says Guan Eng

Tobacco companies have been undergoing a major shift as they try to lower their reliance on traditional cigarettes, seeking a future with alternative products as smoking demand wanes and countries tighten regulations.

PETALING JAYA: Cigarettes sold in restaurants, salted fish, certain seafood and groundnuts have been exempted from the Sales and Services Tax (SST) following appeals, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The seafood exempted is seafood under the crustacean and mollusc HS code.  

Besides that, pewter, boats, ferries and ships are also exempted from the SST, Lim said in a press statement on Wednesday (Sep 26).

The sales tax rate for cosmetic, beauty products, skincare products, mobile phone accessories, watches, re-treaded tyres as well as motorcycle tyres and tubes was reduced from 10% to 5%.

"The government hopes the changes will further improve the well-being of rakyat in line with the aspirations of the Pakatan Harapan government," said Lim.

Other items exempted from SST include imported CKD (completely knocked down) components by local franchise car assemblers, plastic bags for rice packing and the rental of business spaces for restaurants.

The Finance Ministry and the Customs Department came to this decision after reviewing feedback and appeals from the different sectors.

Lim said they have to-date conducted 16 SST briefing and question-and-answer sessions in major cities across Malaysia, attracting more than 13,000 participants.

"We had very fruitful engagement with stakeholders from commerce and industries, and received feedback/appeals for SST exemption or reduction in Sales Tax rates for various items," Lim said.