PETALING JAYA: The vehicle sales tax exemption will end on June 30 as planned, says Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

However, buyers who booked their vehicles during the tax holiday period have until March 31, 2023, to register their vehicles with the Road Transport Department.

He said this is because 264,000 units of vehicles booked during this sales tax exemption period have not yet completed production and cannot be delivered to buyers, owing to a worldwide microchip shortage.

"The extension of this vehicle registration period is a mid-point solution to balance the interests of consumers and national tax revenue, which needs to be re-enhanced post-pandemic to ensure the welfare of the people and the economic well-being of the country continues to be preserved," Tengku Zafrul said in a statement today.

He added that the government introduced the full sales tax exemption on passenger vehicles, including MPVs and SUVs, since June 15, 2020 to assist the automotive sector that had been affected by the pandemic.

To date, a total of 868,422 units of vehicles have been sold and citizens have benefited from sales tax exemption amounting to RM4.7bil, he said.

"With the opening of the economic sector, the automotive sector has returned to full operations.

"However, there are a number of demands that cannot be met in the wake of disruptions to the global supply chain," he said.

Tengku Zafrul said the whole world is facing a shortage of semiconductor microchips, which are widely used across several industries, including the automotive industry.

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