NO SST Exemption Past June 30, 2022 But...

No further SST exemptions but buyers who have made their bookings during this ‘tax holiday’ period will have until March 31st, 2023 to register their vehicle with the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

‘Like for real for real’ - the Finance Ministry isn’t budging to demands to extend the SST exemption period any longer. However, there is a silver lining here.

It was widely thought/hoped that a late announcement might have been made to reverse this deadline, but it seems that the ministry is firm in its decision to reintroduce full SST pricing for new vehicles.

However, there is some good news here as it was also confirmed that buyers who have made their bookings during this ‘tax holiday’ period will have until March 31st, 2023 to register their vehicle with the Road Transport Department (JPJ).

This allays fears that the SST exemption/discount would only apply to those that have (or will have) taken delivery of said vehicle before June 30th. Expect order books to be filled up pretty quickly in these last remaining days, so you better act quickly.

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said that this grace period was given to buyers as there are some 264,000 bookings currently pending that automakers are unable to fulfill due to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage.

"The extension of this vehicle registration period is a mid-point solution to balance the interests of consumers and national tax revenue which needs to be re-enhanced post-pandemic to ensure the welfare of the people and the economic well-being of the country continues to be preserved,” he added.

As of now, and this has been the case since mid-2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting lockdowns, there has been a 100% SST exemption for new vehicles locally assembled in Malaysia while a 50% discount was applied for those sold here fully imported (CBU).

It was a fairly successful move that, as intended, helped to bolster the automotive industry through a challenging period of financial uncertainty. However, it has been argued that such an additional incentive is needed to help that same industry (and the country’s economy as a whole) navigate past this recovery phase.