Malaysia’s first-half tax receipts rise 9% to RM129.6 billion
The government will keep SST while incorporating GST features to prevent cascading taxation, Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong told Parliament.
Malaysia collected RM129.6 billion in taxes during the first half of 2026, compared with RM119.1 billion a year earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong told the Dewan Rakyat. He said increased receipts from corporate income tax and SST supported the 9% rise.
Liew linked the improvement to stronger economic activity, citing domestic demand, electrical and electronics exports, and expansion in services and manufacturing. He identified food and beverage, insurance and logistics as particular contributors to higher SST receipts. The government remains committed to its RM343.1 billion tax collection target for 2026, he said.
On tax policy, Liew said SST would remain in place, with features drawn from GST to prevent taxes accumulating at successive supply-chain stages. He gave neither details of how the changes would work nor a timetable for implementation.
The explanation followed questions from Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin (Larut) about collections and the direction of tax policy. Liew argued that SST was simpler to understand and required fewer collection agents: around 80,000 companies, against about 480,000 under GST.
In a separate response to Tebrau member of Parliament Jimmy Puah Wee Tse, Liew said 1.01 million taxpayers qualified for the revised e-invoicing exemption because their annual sales were RM3 million or less.
Around 160,000 taxpayers covered by that exemption had registered already and could decide whether to proceed with e-invoicing, he said. Liew also said e-invoicing could improve transaction records and curb revenue leakage under the existing tax system.
