No GST for Penang and Johor bridge users

The Royal Customs Department today stressed that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) would not be imposed on users of the Penang and Johor bridges.

Its director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said under the GST (Exempted Supplies) Order 2014, highways with tolls included bridges, and the service would be exempted from GST, beginning April 1, 2015.

"The Customs Department has never at any time issued an official statement withdrawing the GST exemption," he said in a statement, here, today.

Yesterday, a news portal reported that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said he was told that the GST exemption for bridges had been removed, during a briefing by the Customs Department last month.

The move, Lim said, would affect millions who used the Penang Bridge and Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Bridge in Penang.

Lim said those who used the 92-year-old Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Tuas Second Link, which connects Tanjung Kupang in Johor to Tuas in Singapore, would also have to pay GST for their trips to Singapore.