View revised SST in broader fiscal context, tax expert tells M'sians
KUALA LUMPUR : The revision of sales tax rates and the expansion of the service tax scope form part of targeted fiscal measures to keep the nation's finances on a sustainable path, say tax experts.
PwC Malaysia tax leader Steve Chia said the review of the sales and service tax (SST) was expected, having been announced in the 2025 budget last October, and urged the public to view it in a broader fiscal context.
'While it is aimed at supporting the medium-term fiscal goals, a search for a longer-term solution remains necessary to ensure sustainable revenue contributions for the country.
'Although the current expansion is relatively broader, the government is committed to containing the scope to selected and non-essential goods and business-to-business (B2B) services to ensure the rakyat will not be burdened,' he told Bernama.
Finance minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan had announced that the government would implement the revised SST from July 1 to strengthen the country's fiscal position and improve support for public welfare.
Chia said a key challenge would be ensuring cascading costs are either eliminated or not passed along the value chain.
'Since the budget was announced, the government has made efforts to engage the relevant stakeholders, including industry associations and tax professionals, to ensure the revisions are well-informed and the impact on industries are taken into consideration.
'Therefore, the change is aimed at strengthening Malaysia's fiscal position by increasing revenue and broadening the tax base.
'We can see that the government is careful in identifying areas for rate increases and scope expansion to protect and cushion the impact on the rakyat at large.'
KPMG Malaysia's head of tax Soh Lian Seng however said the current SST framework is often viewed as less comprehensive than the previous goods and services tax (GST) scheme.
'This revision appears to be an effort to make the tax structure more progressive, broadening the base while ensuring the burden does not disproportionately fall on the rakyat.
'Expanding the scope of taxable services and revising rates can help improve revenue collection, which is essential for Malaysia's medium-term fiscal consolidation,' he said.
Soh said the government is likely aiming to enhance fairness and efficiency in tax collection by refining the scope and structure of the SST.
Soh said there may be a short-term spike in consumer spending as people rush to make purchases before the new rates take effect, similar to what was observed in 2015 ahead of the GST's implementation.
'However, this is likely to normalise within the next few months. In regard to concerns about inflation, the impact should be modest.
'While there are exemptions and reliefs in place to cushion the impact, the net effect should still contribute positively to government coffers, supporting broader fiscal sustainability,' he added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
26 minutes ago
- The Sun
PropertyGuru Verified Badge – tailored for Malaysia – introduced to curb scams
KUALA LUMPUR: PropertyGuru Malaysia has introduced the PropertyGuru Verified Badge for property agents on its platform, in partnership with the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers (LPPEH), to curb property scams in the local market. PropertyGuru Malaysia country manager Kenneth Soh said the initiative is tailored for Malaysia, where consumer awareness remains lower compared with its other markets. 'This particular push is Malaysia-specific. The badge helps prevent scams by ensuring consumers can easily identify verified professionals with traceable details, giving them recourse if anything goes wrong,' he said at the official launch yesterday. He said Vietnam already has verified agents and listings, while Singapore's smaller market benefits from stronger consumer awareness, making risks more manageable. In contrast, many Malaysians are still unclear on how to verify an agent's licence. Soh said this gap has fuelled rental scams, one of the most common fraud tactics, where conmen pose as agents, show units booked on short-term rental platforms and disappear after collecting deposits. 'Scammers are getting more and more creative. By starting from the discovery stage, we want consumers to look for verified agents on PropertyGuru. We have their identify card, licence tag and phone number, so if anything happens, there is recourse. Without verification, consumers are often left with no way to trace the scammer,' he added. Soh said over 100 had already been verified on the day of its soft launch (Monday), and numbers are expected to rise quickly. PropertyGuru currently has close to 10,000 agents in Malaysia. 'Our target is to get as close to 100% as possible within the year, depending on submissions from our agent partners and the verification process through eKYC and licence checks,' he said. Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department head SAC Mohd Razali Mohd Idrus said property-related scams have become increasingly sophisticated, often involving impersonation of licensed agents to deceive unsuspecting buyers and tenants. 'Public awareness and preventive measures are critical. PDRM welcomes collaborative initiatives such as PropertyGuru's Verified Badge, which can help Malaysians make safer property decisions and reduce opportunities for market exploitation,' he said. The PropertyGuru Verified Badge is awarded to registered real estate negotiators, real estate agents and probationary estate agents with active licences via LPPEH which completes PropertyGuru's secure verification process. This process involves confirming agents' identity through eKYC, validating their professional licence details, verifying their registered contact information and acknowledging the Verified Badge terms. Once completed, the PropertyGuru Verified Badge will appear on the agent or negotiator's profile, listings, and search results, making it easier for property seekers to engage with legitimate professionals. According to the LPPEH, unlicensed individuals defrauded more than 1,500 victims, resulting in nearly RM60 million in losses between 2019 and 2023.
Malay Mail
28 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Hong Leong Bank Wins Three Awards at Asian Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards, Affirming its Transformative Journey Towards Becoming the Best Run Bank in Malaysia
HLB's Head of SME Banking, Woon Siew Hoong [Pic 1, left] and HLB's Head of Cash Management, Alina Grace Tan Kui Kwoon [Pic 2, left] receiving their awards at the Asian Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards 2025 KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Media OutReach Newswire - 20 August 2025Hong Leong Bank ("HLB" or the "Bank") has won awards in three coveted categories at the Asian Banking & Finance ("ABF") Retail Banking Awards 2025, a testament to the significant progress the Bank has made in its 5 year bankwide transformation journey.A pivotal aspect of HLB's bankwide transformation and success story is its established leadership as a prominent SME bank. For the fourth consecutive year, HLB has been named the Best SME Bank in Malaysia by ABF. This recognition directly reflects the Bank's diverse product offerings, pioneering digital innovations, and personalized advisory services, all meticulously designed to cater to the varied needs of its customers. HLB's unwavering commitment to customer-centricity has translated into tangible success, with the Bank's SME loans and financing portfolios achieving an impressive 11.6% year-on-year ("y-o-y") growth, nearly double the industry average of 6.7%. This significant growth not only reinforces HLB's strong market position but also vividly demonstrates its dedication to providing a seamless banking experience through increased accessibility and convenience. The Bank achieves this through its extensive branch network, flexible out-of-branch account openings, and intuitive digital platforms, all serving as effective touchpoints to ensure a comprehensive and effortless banking journey for every its strong performance within the corporate banking sector, HLB has also been recognized as the Domestic Cash Management Bank of the Year. This award underscores how the Bank empowers its corporate and financial institution clients with sophisticated cash management solutions that streamline operations and enhance financial control, further contributing towards HLB's bankwide transformation plan. By leveraging the Bank's real-time API integration, businesses can automate fund transfers to beneficiaries on a same-day basis, eliminating manual intervention and ensuring timely access to funds. The Bank's cash consolidation services also enable clients to streamline cash management by centralizing funds into a single account for better liquidity oversight and easier reconciliation. This comprehensive suite of services has led to the Bank consistently managing over 700 corporate clients with their cash management needs, boasting a remarkable 95.52% customer retention rate and over 99% utilization rate of its cash management with its 5 year bankwide transformation plan, HLB has invested significantly in its digital capabilities, leading to the strategic implementation of AI, effective data management, and innovative digital banking solutions. This commitment to digital excellence culminated in the Bank winning the Digital Transformation of the Year award for its groundbreaking collections 2018, HLB has embarked on a pervasive transformation journey within its Collections team, fundamentally reshaping the collections process with an industry-first, fully integrated, web-based collections platform. The platform provides the Bank with a 360-degree view of its customers, strengthened by real-time information sharing, a predictive dialing system, an AI humanized voice bot, and secured remote working capabilities. These innovations have resulted in a 47% surge in monthly call volume and allowed 20% of HLB's collections officers to be redeployed to higher-value tasks, showcasing the tangible benefits of this digital Lam, HLB's Group Managing Director and CEO, commented, "This isn't just about winning awards; it's about reimagining the way we do banking. Two years ago, we set out on our bankwide transformation plan, and these three accolades prove that we are on the right track. This vision has defined our operating cadence, where we have reevaluated existing structures, reimagined the customer journey, and unleashed a wave of innovation throughout the Bank that is redefining what we can be to our customers. Looking ahead, we strive to continue on our transformation journey, implementing digital innovations while preserving that human touch to ensure we provide an elevated banking experience for all our customers."For more information on HLB's business banking solutions, please visit: Hashtag: #HongLeong #HLBB The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About Hong Leong Bank Berhad Please visit
The Star
40 minutes ago
- The Star
Tracking history: Kluang's modernist landmarks documented in new book
How do you document a place you barely know? This was the challenge faced by Kuala Lumpur-based E9A Architecture when tasked with capturing the story of Kluang's Pasar Awam, the heart of the quiet town just 90 minutes from Johor Baru. 'Last year, we were invited by Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi to come and visit the town. At the time, the Pasar Awam, which is kind of a modernist building, was under threat of being demolished,' recalled Nazmi Anuar, one-third of E9A Architecture. 'So we went there to have a look and what we found was that there is already a grassroots movement aimed at revitalising the building, so we decided that, as outsiders, we should not interfere. Instead, we decided to look beyond the Pasar Awam, at the town's other buildings, and we uncovered the charm of its collection of modernist buildings,' he added. From there, the team pitched the idea to produce a book about the modernist architecture of Kluang, resulting in Between Rail And River, Notes In Time On Kluang , released under Suburbia Projects, a Petaling Jaya-based publisher. 'This is not a complete history of Kluang, but a selective documentation that leaves space for other stories,' says Nazmi. Recently, Suburbia Projects and E9A Architecture held a dialogue at Tintabudi bookshop in KL, on the year-long process of creating the book, attended by Wong, the team, and Kluang residents. During the discussion, Nazmi noted: 'This is not a complete history of Kluang, but a selective documentation that leaves space for other stories.' Naadiya Hani, co-founder of Suburbia Projects, said that 'Kluang has this sort of nostalgic feel to it', making the book project accessible to a wide audience. 'Everyone's heard of Kluang, be it for its coffee or its railways. If this sort of documentation can be done in Kluang, it can easily be replicated in any other cities,' she added. Attention to detail The book's design reflects the team's attention to detail: its cover, embossed with Kluang's railroad tracks and Mengkibol River, is based on a 1945 British Army Corps of Engineers map. The cover's blue hue – that E9A co-founder Hazazi Hamzah, who is from Johor, insisted on – lends an 'official' look to the publication. Published by Suburbia Projects, the book is designed to look like a project dossier. Inside, the book gathers diverse materials to tell Kluang's story – a historic town on the brink of change, with a new elevated railway station opened in late 2024 and its 1915 predecessor preserved as a heritage site. In 2022, the Malaysia Book of Records officially named Kluang Rail Coffee, the iconic kopitiam located inside the original rail station, as the country's oldest railway kopitiam. The second phase of KTMB's Gemas-Johor Baru electrified double-track rail project, covering Segamat to Kluang, is expected to be launched before the end of the month, marking a new beginning. 'Kluang's history has always been driven by the railway – from its colonial-era growth with the Johor and Malayan lines to the likelihood that the new line will spark another wave of development.' 'However, with growth comes the risk that certain things might be wiped away or destroyed. So I think this is a timely point in Kluang's history to document the town as it is today,' said Nazmi. Sia's illustrations are reimaginings of Kluang's buildings, going beyond current uses and exploring possibilities. The book weaves together Aiman Mos Johari's photos of present-day Kluang with archival images, newspaper clippings, interviews with residents, Daryln Sia's imaginative illustrations, E9A's reflective writings, and a 15-point summary of key insights. 'We were all doing different things in parallel, so we decided to just assemble everything together like a sandwich – the text in the middle is basically sandwiched by Aiman's images, so the contemporary, in a way, sandwiches the historical,' said Nazmi. 'For the middle section, featuring archival material from the National Archives, Johor state archives, and Kluang public library, we used Japanese Bible Paper for its delicate transparency – hold it to the light and you can see the page behind it,' he added. Rethinking 'development' Interestingly, most of the team had never been to Kluang before the project. For Sia, who illustrated the town's buildings and their uses without ever visiting, it was a unique challenge. 'I've drawn places I've never visited before – during the MCO, as an architecture student, we learned to study sites remotely. For this project, I did the same, using Google Earth and insights from teammates who visited Kluang,' she said. 'I didn't focus on capturing Kluang's essence directly, but on the quirks and scenes in and around each building – how a hypermarket feels, its rhythms, and how vegetation grows around it.' E9A Architecture's Alia Ahamad said that for the team, its goal for the book was to document the beauty of Kluang through its architecture and stories. 'We hope that this book will encourage people to take a closer look at places that are somewhat off the beaten track and pique their interest in visiting Kluang themselves,' she said. The recent book launch at Tintabudi in KL drew architecture and heritage enthusiasts, along with curious readers. Wong shared that her motivation behind producing a book on Kluang was to trigger more conversations around it. The book is written in both English and Bahasa Malaysia, as she wanted to reach a wider readership. 'I'm grateful that E9A Architecture was able to use their professional language and viewpoints to show residents and those not from Kluang that the town is beautiful. We need to rethink what we view as 'development' – many people think it's about building something new and shiny, but that's not always the case. 'There are so many abandoned, unused private and public properties that can be put to good use to help revive our towns and cities. I think finding new uses for old buildings would be more meaningful than building something new altogether,' she concluded. Between Rail And River, Notes In Time On Kluang is available in all good bookstores. More info:
