Sweetened drink tax delayed until July 1

PUTRAJAYA: The government has agreed to postpone the excise duty on ready-to-drink packaged sweetened beverages to July 1, 2019, says the Customs Department.

Its director-general Datuk Seri T. Subromaniam said the postponement was aimed at giving sufficient time for the industry to prepare.

“This will also allow the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to carry out roadshows and to issue licences to sweetened beverage manufacturers under the Excise Act 1976,” he said yesterday.

Subromaniam said the government also agreed to raise the threshold of sugar content from 5gm to 7gm per 100ml for milk-based beverage products (flavoured milk) classified under tariff heading 22.02, excluding soy milk products.

“The increase in the sugar content threshold shows the government’s concern over efforts to continue promoting the consumption of milk-based products with a healthy level of sugar,” he said.

In Budget 2019, the government announced a proposal to introduce an excise duty on sweetened beverages at 40 sen per litre on two categories of ready-to-drink packaged sweetened beverages.

The products are beverages under the tariff heading 22.02 which contains sugar or other sweeteners exceeding 5gm per 100ml, and fruit and vegetable juices under the tariff heading 20.09 which contains sugar exceeding 12gm per 100ml. — Bernama