Review of SST rate guide to continue until year-end

PUTRAJAYA: The list of items in the Guide on Sales Tax Rate for Various Goods for the implementation of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) will be reviewed and amended until year-end.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the list of goods was dynamic and organic, and continuous review would be conducted to determine its impact on government revenue and the well-being of the people.

“For the time being, the list will be only be used as a reference until amendments can be made accordingly.

“This is so as we feel that there may be goods for which we think the tax can be reduced to five per cent from 10 per cent or from 10 or five per cent that to be exempted. This is something that we can consider,” he told a press conference on the SST implementation here yesterday.

Asked if the revision of the list of goods for the SST could affect the revenue collection target, Guan Eng said it would be a challenge to the government

However, Guan Eng said the government needed time to examine the implications of the review.

“But to me, it will not have a big impact. That is why we need more time to look at the implications, but it is important that we want the people to be able to enjoy the food that they love all this while and not burdened by this tax,” he said..

Commenting on the prices of goods on the the third day of the SST’s implementation, the finance minister said, “If possible I would like to see the prices to be even lower and we will continue to strive towards it.”

“I am not like the previous government which said that prices will certainly go down. But in the event the prices go up, the impact and effects will be lesser than half of the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” he said.

Asked whether businesses have the right to sue the government over unpaid GST refunds, Guan Eng said they could seek legal advice.

“But I wonder why, from 2015 up to May 2018, you (businesses) never sued the government. Why only now you want to sue? Is it because you see the current government as friendly and approachable, and therefore, now you can sue?

“If businesses can wait over the past two years, why can’t they wait another three months (for their refunds)?” he said.

Guan Eng recently said that GST refunds, which were not paid by the previous Barisan Nasional government, would only be paid out beginning in 2019.