On September 1, the Sales and Service Tax (SST) came into effect and the Goods and Service Tax (GST) was abolished. So, how does the SST impact the property industry and agents now?

First some good news. Prices for property including land should not go up. Property is not chargeable under SST so commercial and industrial property buyers immediately benefit from a tax savings of 6%. These type of propery was previously subjected to GST.

Since basic building materials – cement, bricks and certain steel product – are exempted items, the price of houses are expected to fall. However, price movements will still be affected by demand and supply, profit margin, exchange rate, everheads, and other factors.

Commercial property rental is not subject to SST. In the GST era, tenants needed to pay 6% of the rental value of a commercial property to the property owner, if the property’s annual rental exceeds RM500,000.

Only property agents (on their own or work for a company) who surpass an annual turnover of RM500,000 per year are required to charge SST on their services provided to property buyers.

So, if you qualify as a taxable person (or work for a taxable company), you have to ask the seller (property owner) of a property to pay SST of 6%, if you manage to close a buy/sell transaction.

The property owner may ask the property agent to absorb the SST (i.e. pay for it from your commission). They may have done this in the GST era. As before, it is up to you

There is a penalty if you don’t pay SST or late in paying SST to the Ketua Pengarah Kastam Malaysia. Visit https://mysst.customs.gov.my/Penalties for offences and the late payment penalty that is chargeable.