KUALA LUMPUR: The deadline for the sales tax exemption for the purchase of passenger vehicles remains on June 30, 2022, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said.

However, he said the registration period for the purchase of vehicles at the Road Transport Department (JPJ) has now been extended until March 31, 2023.

"The extension of the vehicle registration period is a midpoint solution to balance the interests of consumers and the national tax revenue that needs to be increased post-pandemic to ensure that the welfare of the people and the country's economic well-being is preserved," he said in a statement today.

To maintain and increase the demand and sales momentum of passenger vehicles affected by COVID-19, the government introduced a full sales tax exemption on locally-assembled passenger vehicles (including MPVs and SUVs) and a 50 per cent sales tax exemption on imported passenger vehicles (CBU) from June 15, 2020 to June 30, 2022.

So far, a total of 868,422 units of vehicles have been sold and the people have benefited from the sales tax exemption amounting to RM4.7 billion.

Tengku Zafrul said with the reopening of the economic sectors, the automotive sector has returned to normal operations.

However, the demand for new cars was affected due to disruptions to the global supply chain of semiconductors across several industries, including the automotive industry.

As a result, a total of 264,000 units of vehicles booked during this exemption period have yet to complete installation and cannot be supplied to buyers.

-- BERNAMA