PETALING JAYA: The government has issued a new sales tax under the Sales Tax (Amendment) Act 2022 on goods less than RM500 per consignment by April this year.

The Royal Malaysian Customs Department said in a statement that the legislation on charging and levying Lower Value Goods (LVG) will come into effect in April this year, eventhough it has been enforced since Jan 1.

Items purchased before April 2023 will be exempted from this tax. The 10 percent tax is only applicable to the price of the goods below RM500.

Additional costs such as delivery or shipping charges, insurance will not be affected by this change.

Meanwhile, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department said that some imported goods are exempt from the new sales tax if they are bought online below RM500.

Those items include cigarettes and tobacco products, smoking pipes, including pipe bowls, e-cigarettes and vapes, non-nicotine liquid or gel preparations used for smoking via e-cigarettes or vaping devices, and liquor products.

Sellers, whether in local or overseas-based selling items under RM500 brought in by land, sea or air with LVG sales value exceeding RM500,000 within 12 months, will have to be registered with the customs department as a Registered Seller (RS).

Registration for these sellers have been open since Jan 1 of this year.