Following a report earlier in the week, it’s now widely known that vehicles registered (and operating) in Peninsular Malaysia but running with a Sabah/Sarawak-issued road tax are effectively committing an offence under Section 24 of the Road Transport Act 1987, in which there is a deliberate attempt to avoid paying a higher road tax – if caught, vehicles registered in such fashion can be impounded.
It’s common knowledge that the road tax charged on vehicles in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) is less compared to vehicles in the Peninsular. But what about situations where owners of vehicles registered in Sabah/Sarawak (with road tax paid there) move to the peninsular and bring their vehicles along?
The question is, do these vehicles have to immediately change over to the road tax structure here, or if still valid, have the luxury of waiting for the road tax to expire before paying the higher tax imposed here?
This was posed by reader Paul Si, and so we checked with JPJ to find out what the rules were concerning the matter. It turns out that there’s a grace period before East Malaysian vehicles running in the peninsular have to change over to the latter’s road tax rate.
According to JPJ’s director of automotive engineering department Datuk Mohamad Dalib, a vehicle registered in Sabah/Sarawak which is then sent for use in the peninsular can use its existing road tax for a period of three months. “The condition is that owners should always keep the invoice or shipping document of the vehicle, and display it if necessary during the three-month period,” he told paultan.org.
“Under existing regulations, the road tax is based on the location where a vehicle is registered or where it is stored (current use). So, for vehicles from Sabah/Sarawak who want to use such vehicles in the peninsular, they will have to use the peninsular road tax after the three-month period ends,” he added.
What if the existing road tax has say, another remaining six months? Within the three months provided, Mohamad explained that the owner should refer to JPJ for rate clarification, and will only be required to pay the remaining road tax (based on peninsular rates) on a pro-rated basis for the remainded of the road tax’s validity.
Technically, this should also work on the flipside, with peninsular-registered vehicles brought over to Sabah/Sarawak, but maybe getting a rebate from switching to a lower road tax structure might prove a tad more difficult to achieve. What do you think of the ruling? Share your thoughts on the matter below.
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Easy to settle.
1. Prohibit new OTR registration of number plate from different locales. Vehicle new OTR in Penisular, shall not be registered using Sarawak/Sabah number place; vice versa.
2. Prohibit renewal of the roadtax of Penisular number plate in Sarawak/Sabah unless it is proven of the usage. How to proof? Show latest Puspakom inspection certificate.
Not so easy.
1. U asking for JPJ to revert back to the old system where vehicle number plates r registered in its state. With easy cross movement, thats no longer possible to enforce. Besides, there some patriotic East Msians living in West that prefers their state numbers. Cant deny this right, yo.
2. Peninsulars will want change roadtax to East MY soonest possible as due to it being cheaper there. Similarly, some may like to keep their numbers there, so shudnt deny their right as well.
The only solution to prevent abuse of this unique East Msian right, is for JPJ to impose a transfer taxation for permanent relocation of vehicles to West. No transfer resit, no boarding onto RORO vessel. For temporary transfer (like for car servicing), JPJ shud impose a refundable downpayment upon application of temporary transfer for the duration of the 3months grace period. Similarly, no transfer resit, no boarding onto vessel.
What a sham. I have seen this going on the past 20 years. Infact, everyday in Bangsar, I can spot at least 5 Bentleys with Sabah Sarawak roadtax
And now, they just catch one just to show?
Come on JPJ and PDRM, so many in Bangsar everyday. And nearly every AP car got runner boys who do this Sarawak roadtax.
There are so many Ferrari, Lamborghini and Bentleys use Sabah Sarawak road tax
When is JPJ really going to catch all these guys? Mostly Datuk and Tan Sri somemore.
As said, those u saw in Bangsar had Sabah & Sarawak plates which means they have been transferred legally as mentioned above.
learn to read properly. I said they all have Sabah Sarawak road tax. I did not say they have Sabah Sarawak number plates.
By the way, all the cars I saw have Wilayah plates but Sabah Sarawak road tax
Learn to see properly. Those cars u saw had S number plates. I live in Bangsar so I know what cars u meant. And I spoke to the drivers, they got show all the legalwork done up.
how convenient you spoke to all the drivers. Don’t lie here. Ha ha ha
I live in Bukit Tunku so U dunno what cars I meant. Most neighbors former & current public servants own supercars mostly w Sabah Sarawak number plates
Instead of whining here, why dont u snap pic and make a report to JPJ?
Everyday hundreds of runner boys from AP car companies get Sarawak road tax for their current customers PLUS their ex customers.
Many ex customers renew their road tax with these runner boys for years.
So in total, in a day, at least over hundred Sarawak road tax applications are made for cars in Semenanjung. These cars all have Wilayah plates and have been in KL for years.
And thats the beauty of my system. It prevents abuse becuz all paperwork and payment r done before boarding vessel and if the temporary transfer is to be misused, there is no incentive cuz the owners will pay the equivalent rate downpayment and will seek the return soonest possible.
What happened for those East Malaysia AP Alphard that offered by recond car dealer? They said valid, can use here at peninsular. Can explain a bit JPJ?
btw, you cant buy a semenanjung roadtax in sabah even though your insurance is semenanjung, the jpj system dont know..
so the solution is easy,
insurance knows where the vehicle is, just indicate the vehicle location in the jpj system la.. force the correct roadtax when renewing it..
Equal road tax nation wide would make things much easier.
Yezza. Semenanjung road tax too exp.
JPJ knows about this for 20 years already. They are at fault for letting it happen for so long.
Just one car alone LHDN loses about RM16,000 in revenue per year. There are thousands of cars in Klang Valley that uses Sarawak road tax.
It is estimated that LHDN loses BILLIONS per year just from there offenders.
So, in other words, JPJ has caused LHDN to lose BILLIONS in revenue per year for the past 20 years.
By the way, all taxes for all cars sold in Malaysia only come to RM6 billion.
So, if these offenders don’t steal from LHDN, all Malaysians can even have tax free cars with the BILLIONS LHDN can save from these cheats.
JPJ, time to clean your corrupt officers first. Because YOU are dirty, we all lose out BILLIONs of revenue from LHDN.
Our Schools and hospitals are affected with funding cost because Government has no money to give them the necessary funding.
Where did it says JPJ runs hospitals & skools?
I think the road tax to be paid to the jpj and no LHDN involvement in it
Standardised the rate. Solve the problems.
let’s start with equal quality road all over the nation first, then we make the tax equal.
pan-borneo “highway” that you hear are mostly poorly made of many 1-2 km of “lorong memotong” add-on onto existing road. even though existing road is shitty, it is of higher quality than the new “lorong memotong” which is bumpy/wavy, easily damaged when rain, and in the end, lorry park there because nobody use it. info from frequent use of sibu-bintulu road.
dun kelentong. TV3 shows pan-borneo highway smooth 4lane carriageways with clean spacious rest areas.
You are funny man still believe in TV3 hahaha.
Ur a funny peson to belip what fesbuk says.
Tv 3 pure lies….btu sibu road is shit… holes everywhere and floods during raining days
U live in borneo huh? The road is shitty man. Accept the fact. New roads will get kaput in 6 months, eventhough less lorry or heavy vehicle whose using the road. This is due to the fact that they create the road so poorly. Pan borneo u have seen the road huh? I use the road everday. They just upgrade a little, from 1 lane to 2 lane for memotong.
if you don’t live in East Malaysia, better don’t comment…nothing is true in the TV.. The road condition is very bad. some part of the road can’t even drive faster than 40KM/H for so call ‘highway’! only 4wd pickup/SUV (with high ground clearance) can drive faster than that with ignorance of portholes
“info from frequent use of sibu-bintulu road.”
Riiigghhhtt… So means u din actually see it.
Lilytan, why don’t you fight for same salary scale for sarawakians and sabahans first before asking for road tax to be the same. Current consumer products are all much more expensive there than in west Malaysia. Please fight for equalisation first before nip-picking on this 1 item. Thank you very much for your help to fight for equalisation of costs and salary for all Malaysians.
yes, i agree with equal road tax charging but how come the road quality is not equal??
Save thousand for years, then if kena caught just pay the balance for the current roadtax. No penalty, no punishment.
This kind of biz Good deal….
Section 24 states:
“Any person who fails to comply with the requirement of such notice shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding two thousand ringgit and the court before which such person is convicted may, in addition to such fine, order such person to pay the amount of any fees due and remaining unpaid at the time of conviction, and any such amount so ordered to be paid may be recovered in accordance with the law relating to the recovery of fines; and any amount so recovered shall be remitted by the court to the appropriate Director.”
Basically, the court can award whatever dues that JPJ said shud be paid (and theres no max limit to how high it can go in the law). So its to JPJ’s benefit for them TO break the law. Saman & tax the rich! What a gud deal for JPJ, i guess…
ENFORCEMENT
I tot we are ALL Malaysians. What happen to 1Malaysia ?! Why need 2 system for road tax ?? Isn’t it simpler to have 1 system(road-tax)??! Sight…
But dark side says tolak 1Malaysia wor…
Star wars overload, jom join da dark side….
for Semenanjung to work in Sabah/Sarawak also need work permit/visa …
please read up the history and MA63.
it is a treaty of formulation of Malaysia and it can’t be changed even in the parliament.
this is what was agreed by our forefathers and not a simple 1malaysia slogan could change the fact.
Poor Sabah and Sarawak. They bring most of the wealth to Semenanjung. 90% of their oil money goes to Semenanjung. But they themselves get nothing
Thats what current gov is doing. Rebalancing the unfairness of a certain 22 year period when they were 2nd fiddle. So Sabahans & Swkians wud do better than to bring back that dark history with THAT man.
1Malaysia does not translate to equality. 2 system of roadtax mean 2 different type of road quality.
government would’ve need to impound so many cars. enough space to keep them? i suggest just auction off their cars. it will benefit those who needs a car at a cheaper price.
the way road tax is calculated is a joke!
2000cc=RM380
3000cc=RM2,130
3500cc=RM4,380
where is the logic!
sarawak roadtax the rich so no problemo.
Tax the rich no problemo
high cc more fuel consumption. you mau bergaya, you bayar la
Not a proper kind of method to justify roadtax. caveman time can la! more fuel consumption =/= more bergaya la.. think about 2.4 camry, 244 volvo or 3.0 cefiro v6.
It’s fair to structure the roadtax in a non-linear way. Higher cc, higher emissions, (generally) higher kerb weight, higher speed/torque, higher damage onto public infra.
For me it makes perfect sense to make the tax structure exponential vs cc (with lack of other measureable variable).
The real culprit is the way the road tax is calculated. Why based on engine cc when it is meaningless nowadays. A 2.5 Camry need to pay higher road tax than a BMW 530i, just for example. Also, a 5.0 Mustang need to pay a lot of roadtax even if driven just a few kilometers per year.
We should have a system of low car tax, low road tax but have some tax on fuel. Use more, pay more.
Tax the rich no problemo. If dun like road tax for 2.5 Camry then get the 2.0 version lah. Current tax is too low and dun discourage private vehicle ownership. They shud increase it further and use that additional income for more public transports.
Most fair road tax system is Norways where its tiered according to weight of vehicle. The heavier it is, the more it wears on the road and therefore shud pay higher.
nanti grabuber driver gulung tikar bang.
The road tax pricing mechanism is just ridiculous. When you create an uneven playing field, this is what happen.
Just curious. How many readers from Semenanjung have driven in Sabah and Sarawak, to places like Kudat, Tenom, Bongawan, Long Pasia, Kanowit, Song, Ba’kelalan, Bario?
Ini semua pasal Kereta high capacity try to save money. Now menyusahkan semua orang!
I don’t really agree that big c.c. car should pay more road tax. it should be a fix rate for all.
tax the rich? I agree, but they already pay higher taxes and duties when buying the car.
everyone equally use the road, regardless of the car, so pay same rate is fair.
Higher CC = bigger car
Bigger car = heavier weight
Heavier weight = more wear on roads
More wear on road = more maintenance
More maintenance = need more money
So its better to tax based on weight system, but based on CC is about similar right now. So tax the rich, cuz car ownership is increasing esp them luxuries.
Compared back to old time, higher CC pay more is stupid idea. But now it seems good because engines capacity are getting smaller. If follows our neighbor SG then is doom day because calculate base on Hp.
To be honest, JPJ can come out whatever rules they want. Or now is digital era, they can even implement good tracker system. I can bet 100% there will be no enforcer end of the day and everyone still continue to abuse it.
Nak pakai kereta mewah, tapi roda nak bayar murah. Kalau dah tau miskin, buat cara miskin, including those Dato’ and Tan Sri yang berlagak kaya.
Dongois… Stop crapping about lost in government revenue. Even with Sarawak road tax, they still pay way more than you. Don’t forget import tax, how much do you pay yours? How many cars do you own that needs to pay all these costs?
Do you know our road tax in Malaysia is flawed? Exponentially & progressively increasing the cost of road tax after 3000cc is UNFAIR. If you can argue that it is a fair system, please leave a comment after me. Thanks.
Am moving to KL from Sarawak. I have Toyota Land Cruiser , what should i do? Do i need to change to West malaysian car plate. I know the tax have is different. What else do i need to know. Help!
I went to jpj pudu..
the person in charge told me i need to cancel my roadtax in sabah first then can only can they issue me the semenanjung roadtax..
i drive an axia.. 1000cc roadtax is same sabah and semenanjung.. it is soooo not worth the effort to change it..
I got caught using Sarawak road tax then the traffic police told me that they want to take my car to JPJ and ask me to wait for court case. Do they have the right to take my car?
Hi. Just want to ask about this road tax for car shipped over to KL from Sabah. My road tax just renew 2 months ago in Sabah, then I’m shipping my car over. How do I convert it to Semenanjung road tax then? Re-renew my insurance and road tax? Or is there a way to re-renew only the road tax for the remaining period? Hope someone can help on this.