Malaysia: The prospects and drawbacks of navigating from GST to SST

Published on 01 Aug 18 by "THE TAX SPECIALIST" JOURNAL ARTICLE

Malaysia introduced the goods and services tax (GST) in April 2015 to raise revenue for the government and lower its budget deficit. However, in the recent elections held on 9 May 2018, the newly formed government (Alliance of Hope) decided to replace the GST with the sales and services tax (SST), which will come into effect on 1 September 2018. The move to abolish the GST and reintroduce the SST is expected to lower the cost of living — particularly for middle and lower income groups — but there is little indication as to the form the SST framework is expected to take. This article reviews the GST and SST regimes, the prospects and drawbacks of the SST and makes some suggestions for the smooth implementation of the SST.

Author profile

Jeyapalan Kasipillai

Jeyapalan is a Professor, School of Business, Monash University, Malaysia. - Current at 04 July 2016

More by Jeyapalan KASIPILLAI

• Low oil price shock in Malaysia: Government fiscal impact and petroleum industry reactions - 01-December-2017
• Political connections, corporate governance and effective tax rates in Malaysia - 01-October-2017
• The adoption of GST in Malaysia: Lessons not learned and a few new paths - 01-July-2017
• Finally, a goods and services tax for Malaysia: A comparison to Australia’s GST experience - 01-July-2016
• Evaluation of corporate income tax compliance costs under the Malaysian self-assessment system - 01-April-2014
• Influence of ownership structure and corporate governance on effective tax rates and tax planning: Malaysian evidence - 01-December-2012

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