KOTA KINABALU, Jan 12 — The Sabah government is extending its voluntary declaration programme for the state sales tax (SST) originally meant to end on December 31, 2023, for another three months.
The state Finance Ministry’s permanent secretary cum sales tax director Datuk Mohd Sofian Alfian Nair said that all SST payers may voluntarily register and pay their SST up to March 31, 2024 without incurring any penalties.
The state implemented the voluntary disclosure programme on August 15 last year to encourage SST payers, particularly in the fishery commodities as well as scrap iron and waste traders, to come forward to register and pay their SST.
Companies that have never registered for an SST licence and companies that have registered but have not made a declaration for certain sales transactions are also required to make a declaration.
“Under this special programme, SST payers will not face penalties if their tax payments are submitted within the programme’s duration,” he said.
“Considering the positive response to this programme, which concluded on December 31, 2023, the Sabah Ministry of Finance announces an extension of the programme until March 31, 2024,” he said.
The taxation period involved in this special programme is based on the effective date of SST on the respective products, namely fishery commodities brought out from Sabah from May 1, 2021 to August 14, 2023, and scrap iron and waste brought out from Sabah from February 1, 2022 to August 14, 2023.
The terms and regulations of the programme remain unchanged.