Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has instructed the Finance Ministry to conduct a comprehensive study into a proposal to combine the Sales and Service Tax (SST) with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) under a hybrid taxation system.
Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan had been given time to prepare a report on the proposal before it is brought back to the Cabinet for further discussion.
Fahmi said the proposal remains at an early stage and would require careful consideration, including lessons from the previous implementation of GST and issues arising under the current SST system.
“So, these matters will be considered by the Ministry of Finance before being brought for discussion and a decision by the Cabinet,” he said during his ministry’s weekly press conference on Wednesday.
No timeline has been set for the completion of the study or when the Cabinet could decide on the proposed hybrid system.
Anwar had said on Tuesday that the government was open to studying whether SST and GST could be combined to improve Malaysia’s taxation framework and move towards a more progressive system.
