Hasidah: Petronas to pay ‘over RM2 bln’ in SST by this month end

KUCHING: Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) is expected to pay the state government more than RM2 billion in State Sales Tax (SST) on petroleum products by this month end, said Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali.

Sharifah Hasidah, who holds the Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring portfolio, said the payment should be made once the computation of the process which includes penalty and interest is completed.

“The wait will not be much longer, by end of September we should be done. On the exact amount, I’m not sure as it is still being computed,” she told reporters here yesterday, before adding that the sum would be “over RM2 billion”.

In January last year, the Sarawak government imposed a five per cent sales tax on petroleum products under the State Sales Tax Ordinance 1998, which Petronas refused to pay as it held the view the tax as not valid under the Federal List, and that the company should not be double taxed as it already bears a petroleum income tax of 38 per cent.

On March 13 this year, the High Court ruled that Article 95B(3) of the Federal Constitution provided that the legislature of Sabah and Sarawak may make laws for the imposition of sales tax.

The provision stated that any sales tax imposed by state law is deemed among the matters enumerated in the State List, the State Sales Tax Ordinance and any subsidiary legislation made thereunder is constitutional and valid.

The High Court then dismissed Petronas’ judicial review application to quash the notices of assessment issued by the Sarawak government in seeking the company to pay RM1.3 billion in SST.

On Saturday, Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the third meeting of the committee set up to find commercial solutions over Sarawak’s petroleum sales tax claim will held in Kuching on Sept 17.

He said the meeting would be held to get updates on what the working committee has achieved so far.

The committee had been set up to facilitate negotiations between the Sarawak and federal governments and is cochaired by Fadillah and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, together with the Sarawak government and Petronas.

Meanwhile, Sharifah Hasidah, who earlier officiated at the completion of upgrading works at Surau Darul Nur Dini in Kampung Sungai Midin, said the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government has spent billions on projects for Sarawakians throughout the state, including in Kampung Sungai Midin.