Malaysian Import Beer Tax Are Crazy
As I have now opened my owned beer shop, I started to import beers for my shop. First time doing my tax calculation really spooked me off.
Duties Calculation – PER LITER
1) Import Duty = Qty in liter x Import Duty Rates
2) Excise Duty 1 = Qty in liter x Excise Duty Rates
3) Excise Duty 2 = (Import Duty +Excise Duty+ Total Value of goods) x Excise 2 Rates
4) Sales Tax = (Import Duty + Excise Duty 1 + Excise Duty 2 + Total Value of Goods ) x Sales Tax Rates
You have to go through 3 duty and 1 tax to clear from custom.
Wines Brandy/Whisky Rum/Vodka/Gin Beer
Duty 7 58 55 5
Excise 1 12 30 30 7.4
Excise 2 15% 15% 15% 15%
Sales tax 5% 5% 5% 5%
Trust me when the first 2 duties add together is already quite crazy.
Just simple calculation a box of RM0 (24 bottles x 330ml) beer will cost RM118.60 just on the tax without declaring a single cent on the goods. That already RM4.95 before the beer add on price and logistic. When you add on the goods price and the extra tax on Excise 2 and Sales Tax is just become havoc.
For beer drinkers in Malaysia, is fair for us to asked what the country did for us since we contribute so much extra money to them. We have to forgive the proper imported beers for the expensive price because of the expensive tax and bad exchange rate.
I hope the next budget can do something about this. I really think is not fair for the consumer to absorb all this taxes while the government is doing nothing to stop the illegal smuggled beer into the country. I can’t blame the smuggler as this is a lucrative business. Beer selling at RM5 a can get around 100% margin as the real cost is around RM2 per can without paying tax.
Will I see the day that beer excise duty will be reduce… that we have to sound our concern out loud! For the glory of beers in Malaysia to be reasonably price.
