11th June 2025 - 2 min read
The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has confirmed that local fruits and other essential daily goods will not be subject to the expanded Sales and Service Tax (SST), which comes into effect on 1 July 2025.
According to the ministry, the revised SST will apply only to selected non-essential and premium goods at rates of either 5% or 10%. These include items such as truffle mushrooms, racing bicycles, and king crab.
A MOF spokesman clarified that the sales tax does not apply to locally grown fruits or cooking oil. The 5% tax will apply only to imported fruits.
“If the fruits are imported, they will be subject to the 5% sales tax. Locally grown fruits are exempted from any sales tax. In addition, selected foods that are imported, like rice, wheat, sugar, salt and meat, are exempt, as they are considered basic essentials.”
“Locally manufactured and imported palm oil for cooking oil is also exempted,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman also stated that raw sugar, which is defined as cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose in solid form, will be taxed at 5%, while refined sugar will remain exempt at a 0% rate.
MOF also reiterated that the revised tax structure is designed to avoid directly affecting the cost of living for the majority of Malaysians, and to help maintain a controlled inflation rate.
There was widespread confusion online after the government’s gazetted list of taxable goods appeared to conflict with earlier statements, showing items such as bananas, papayas, durians, dried longans, cooking oil, sugar, and salt, all of which had previously been described as tax-exempt essentials.
The lack of clarity in distinguishing between imported and locally produced items in the gazette led to questions about how the rules would be put into practice.
Samuel writes about personal finance and financial news, focusing on how banking updates, policies, and promotions affect everyday money decisions. He enjoys making complicated financial topics easier to follow. Outside of writing, he spends his time watching TV shows and occasionally convincing himself he will only watch one episode.
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