KOTA KINABALU: Sabah estimates it is due about RM3.019bil in federal revenue return for 2025 under the 40% constitutional formula, state Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said in the Sabah Legislative Assembly in Kota Kinabalu.
Masidi said taxes collected in Sabah by the Inland Revenue Department and Customs totalled RM7.547bil in 2025, based on publicly available data, and the state calculated that 40% of that amount was due to Sabah.
“We have to respect the ongoing discussions, and I can only disclose revenue figures that are publicly available,” he said on Tuesday (April 28).
Earlier, Assistant Minister Datuk Chong Chen Bin told the assembly that Sabah was maintaining its claim to a 40% share of federal revenue collected in the state. He said the state was seeking immediate payments for 2022 to 2026, even as legal appeals continued over claims covering 1974 to 2021.
Chong said negotiations through the Special Grant Committee had met four times and had produced partial data on federal revenue collected in Sabah from 1974 to 2025. He said the data remained restricted for internal use and that both sides were still negotiating which revenue items should count as federal revenue in Sabah.
“The revenue components under review include direct taxes, indirect taxes, non-tax revenue, and petroleum-related income such as royalties and petroleum income tax,” Chong said in reply to Alias Sani (Warisan-Sekong).
He said Sabah had asked for undisputed sums to be paid first as interim payments, while disputed items were settled later.
Chong also said the state had asked for the RM600mil interim grant for 2026 to be reviewed under Article 112C of the Federal Constitution. He said the Court of Appeal had allowed the federal government on April 6 to delay the implementation of Sabah’s 40% entitlement pending an appeal against the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruling.
He said the delay applied only to claims from 1974 to 2021. Through a letter dated April 10, he said, the Sabah government had urged Putrajaya to make payments for 2022 to 2025 and for the current year because the federal government had not appealed the High Court’s recognition of Sabah’s entitlement.
