No GST return or revised GST rate has been announced. In Parliament on 5 March 2024, Finance Minister II Amir Hamzah Azizan said the government had no plan to reintroduce GST at that time. The latest official position covered here, from Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim on 18 August 2026, is to retain the sales and service tax (SST) while considering selected GST features—not to reinstate GST.
Did Amir Hamzah propose bringing back GST at a revised rate?
The official statements cited here do not support the claim that Amir Hamzah proposed a GST return at a revised rate. On 5 March 2024, answering a parliamentary question about whether the government was ready to implement GST again, he said the government had no plan to do so then. His stated concerns included GST’s broad consumption-tax base and the cost-of-living pressures facing lower-income people.
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Amir Hamzah had said on 4 March 2024 that the government would focus on improving the current tax system before assessing whether it needed to reintroduce a tax such as GST. He pointed to existing tools, including SST. The official record establishes his position at those dates; it does not establish whether he made a later rate proposal.
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Read the Ministry of Finance’s 4 March 2024 statement and the 5 March 2024 Dewan Rakyat proceedings.
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What is the latest official position?
On 18 August 2026, Anwar said the government was ready to study a proposal combining elements of GST and SST to create a more progressive system. He also said Malaysia would retain SST and consider only GST features deemed acceptable. He rejected a tax that broadly affects the population. This describes a study of selected features, not a decision to restore GST or a proposed GST rate.
This is Anwar’s statement, not a later GST proposal attributed to Amir Hamzah. The Ministry of Finance’s report is available in its 18 August 2026 press citation.
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How did the government’s position develop?
| Date | Official statement | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 4 March 2024 | Amir Hamzah said the government would prioritize improving the existing tax system before assessing whether to reintroduce a tax such as GST, with immediate focus on tools including SST. | No announcement of a GST return or rate. |
| 5 March 2024 | In Parliament, Amir Hamzah said the government had no plan to implement GST again at that time, citing its broad base and cost-of-living challenges. | The recorded answer was against reintroduction at that point. |
| 18 August 2025 | Amir Hamzah said the government had decided to retain SST with an expanded scope after weighing SST and GST. He cited system readiness, targeted implementation and more manageable effects than a broad-based GST. | The policy described was expanded SST, not a revised-rate GST. |
| 18 August 2026 | Anwar said the government would retain SST while studying acceptable GST features for a more progressive system. | A study of selected features, not a GST reinstatement announcement. |
In his 2025 statement, Amir Hamzah cited Ministry of Finance estimates of RM5 billion in additional SST revenue for 2025 and RM10 billion for 2026. These were forecasts, not reported collections. He also referenced RM10 billion in 2024 and RM15 billion in 2025 for STR and SARA allocations as social-assistance context; those amounts were not GST revenue. See the Ministry of Finance’s 18 August 2025 statement.
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What does SST cover, and how is it different in structure?
Malaysia’s official MySST portal describes SST as two taxes: sales tax and service tax. Sales tax is a single-stage tax on taxable goods manufactured in Malaysia by registered persons and sold by them, including disposal or own use, and on imported taxable goods. Service tax applies to taxable services supplied by taxable persons in the course of business; it also covers imported taxable services for business purposes.
GST is described in the officials’ statements as a broad-based consumption tax. The distinction matters to the policy debate: the statements discuss the breadth of the tax base, exemptions, targeted scope, implementation readiness and potential cost-of-living effects. They do not provide an independent, comprehensive assessment of the economic effects of either system, nor do they specify a proposed GST rate.
The MySST portal says SST replaced the GST Act when it began in 2018 and that the SST scope expansion took effect on 1 July 2025. For current tax information, consult the Royal Malaysian Customs Department’s MySST portal (last updated 19 July 2026).
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