State Sales Tax payment deferment extended

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Jasni Daya

KOTA KINABALU (March 24): Payment of the State Sales Tax (SST) from May to December 2021 has been deferred to June 30 this year.

Assistant Finance Minister Jasni Daya said extension to the payment deferment was made after the State Government took into account the requests of industry players.

Jasnih when replying to Tanjong Kapor assemblyman Ben Chong, said the state government had announced an earlier deferment for SST payment from May to December 2021, on November 3 2021 and the tax must be paid in full on or before January 28, 2022.

“Today, I wish to announce to this August House that the State Government has agreed to extend the deferment of the SST payment from May 2021 to December 2021, to 30th June 2022.

“This decision is final and details on this matter will be announced through a notice to be issued by the Ministry of Finance later,” he said.

Jasni who was replying to an additional question from Sri Tanjung assemblyman Justin Wong, said the government will be looking into ways to facilitate the tax payment so as not to burden the business community in the state.

“We hope to be able to finalize things and make the announcement on the new mode of payment before June this year,” he said.

Several state assemblymen, especially in constituencies where there are many seafood exporters, urged the government to clear the air about the issue with regards to the SST.

“Some industry players are still confused about whether it is the SST which is deferred or the payment of the SST,” said Merotai assemblyman Sarifuddin Hata.

His counterpart in Elopura, Calvin Chong, Ben and Justin voiced the same concern stressing that a previous government memo had stated that all SST arrears must be settled by Feb this year.

Jasnih told the August House that only the payment of the SST was deferred as the tax had been implemented on May 1 2021.

Meanwhile Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun further explained that the deferrmemt of the payment announced by the government is similar to a moratorium.

“On the issue of payment collection, don’t worry we will engage with industry players to find ways for them to make payments accordingly. Don’t worry … we are very concerned,” said Masidi.