Malaysia postpones imposing sales tax on low-value imports until March 2023

28 December 2022

The Malaysian government recently announced the Sales Tax Bill 2022, which confirmed that the removal of Import Sales Tax exemption on goods bought from outside the country will be imposed on 31 March 2023.

Currently, there is an Import Sales Tax exemption threshold set at RM500 (approx. £100), allowing importers to purchase goods free of sales tax from non-resident companies up to this amount. However, this will be removed from 31 March 2023 and instead, non-resident providers will either have an obligation to register for Malaysian sales tax to charge this to the consumer at the current rate of 10% directly, or the consumer will have an obligation to pay the tax at clearance of the goods themselves.

The Malaysian government still needs to release details on whether there will be a Sales Tax registration threshold or if a simplified registration process will be applied for these transactions.