KUCHING, Nov 25: Petronas has confirmed that the Sarawak government and the controller of state sales tax have filed a lawsuit against it over the alleged failure to pay the five per cent sales tax.
“Petronas confirms that the controller of state sales tax of Sarawak and the Sarawak state government have filed an action against Petronas before the High Court of Kuching on Nov 21, 2019, for non-payment of the Sarawak sales tax on petroleum products,” the national oil company said in a statement today.
Last Thursday, Assistant Minister Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said in a statement that Petronas had not paid the state sales tax for petroleum products under the State Sales Tax Ordinance 1998 which was due to the state.
“As a result, the state government is left with no choice but to commence legal action for the recovery of the unpaid taxes due,” she said.
The five per cent state sales tax was imposed on Jan 1 this year and Petronas has been said to be the only oil and gas company operating in the state which has yet to pay the tax.
A source had told DayakDaily recently that the actual amount Petronas is owing the Sarawak Government is about RM1.29 billion for the first half of this year.
It is understood that other oil companies, such as Murphy and Pertamina have paid theirs. — DayakDaily
