Malaysia VAT Rate 2026
Malaysia does not levy VAT — it uses a SST (Sales and Service Tax / Cukai Jualan dan Perkhidmatan) system instead, which works differently from the credit-invoice VAT used in most of the world.
Rate update
Malaysia operates SST, not VAT: service tax is 8% (raised from 6% in March 2024, scope expanded July 2025) and sales tax 5–10% by product category. SST replaced GST in September 2018.
No VAT — SST (Sales and Service Tax / Cukai Jualan dan Perkhidmatan) applies instead
Malaysia is the rare country that introduced a modern GST and then repealed it: the 6% GST lasted only from 2015 to 2018 before being scrapped after a change of government, restoring the older single-stage SST. Today service tax runs at 8% (6% for food and telecoms) and sales tax at 5–10% on manufactured and imported goods, with the scope expanded substantially in July 2025 to cover more services. Because SST is single-stage, there is no input-credit mechanism — a key difference from VAT/GST systems.
Registration and filing
| Registration threshold | MYR 500,000RM 500,000 for most service-tax categories; RM 1.5 million for restaurants |
| Tax authority | Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) |
| Filing frequency | Bi-monthly SST returns (every two months) |
Access rates via API
The TaxID API returns current VAT and GST rates for 200+ countries and territories. Use the /api/v1/rates/MY endpoint to get Malaysia data programmatically. Responses are cached for 24 hours.
curl http://localhost:3000/api/v1/rates/MY
# No authentication required for rate lookups
# Response:
# { "country_code": "MY", "tax_type": "sales_tax",
# "standard_rate": 8, "reduced_rates": [0],
# "currency": "MYR", "last_updated": "2025-07-01" }About Malaysia Sales Tax
Sales Tax in Malaysia is administered by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD). Before applying any zero-rate or exemption to a Malaysia business customer, validate their registration first.
Sources: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries · MySST — RMCD (accessed Jun 2026)
Rate history
- 2015GST introduced at 6%
- 2018GST abolished after elections; SST reinstated
- 2024Service tax raised from 6% to 8%; scope expanded again in July 2025
Frequently asked questions
What is the tax rate in Malaysia in 2026 — does Malaysia have VAT?
Malaysia has no VAT/GST; it levies SST — service tax at 8% (6% for F&B and telecoms) and sales tax at 5% or 10% on goods.
Why did Malaysia abolish GST?
The 6% GST (2015–2018) was blamed for cost-of-living pressures and repealed after the 2018 election, returning Malaysia to the single-stage SST system.
Related concepts and guides: