KUALA LUMPUR, July 19 — The Malaysian Royal Customs Department has denied exempting cars from the Sales and Services Tax (SST).

In a press statement today, its Director-General Datuk Seri Subromaniam Thosaly explained that the sales exemption was referring to components for Completely Knocked Down (CKD) vehicles only, but the government impose tax the moment the components are assembled.

"The items exempted from the sales tax in our list only referred to unassembled components for CKD passenger vehicles. The moment the vehicle has been assembled from the components it will be taxed,” Subromaniam said.

He clarified that the confusion, which has gone viral, stemmed from a misinterpretation or misunderstanding of what is exempted and what is not.

"We want to clarify that all passenger vehicles will be taxed,” Subromaniam continued.