KUALA LUMPUR (July 23): Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Liew Vui Keong said today that the Malaysian government hopes to table the sales and services tax (SST) bill in Parliament next week to replace the goods and services tax (GST). 

The country intends to implement the SST from Sept 1, 2018 to replace the GST, which has been zero-rated in June 1, 2018.

Liew told reporters at the Parliament lobby today: "Keep your finger crossed, hopefully by next week. It is in the pipeline as I said before, we will prepare the memorandum and submit to the Cabinet for approval.

"I don't think we will meet any resistance (in the Cabinet)" he said.

Last week, news reports quoted Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as saying in his speech at the National Tax Conference that under the proposed SST bill, goods will be taxed at 10%, while the provision of services will be taxed at 6%.

“Following the zero-rating of the GST, the federal government is expecting to lose RM21 bil in revenue per year. In contrast, the reintroduction of the SST, rising crude oil prices and the dividends from the government-linked companies would bring in an extra RM15 bil in revenue for the federal government in 2018,” Lim said.