KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Around 580,000 households, which were previously in the M40 income group, slipped into the B40 bracket because of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in September.

Malaysians are categorised into three income groups: the Bottom 40 per cent or B40, middle 40 per cent dubbed M40 and top 20 per cent categorised as T20.

T20 are those earning RM10,000 and above, M40 are those earning between RM4,850 and RM11,000. If your household brings in a monthly median income of below RM4,850, you’re classified under the Bottom 40 per cent (B40).

The absolute poverty rate had also risen to 8.4 per cent compared to 5.6 per cent last year.

As such, Putrajaya has implemented various incentives to help those who’ve dropped into the B40 category.

Removal of Property Gains Tax (RPGT)

The government will no longer impose the RPGT for property disposals by individual citizens, permanent residents and other companies starting from the sixth year onwards.

Malaysia Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) said the removal of the RPGT will help invigorate the Malaysian property market and eventually translate into a positive multiplier effect on the economy.

Removal of sales tax for car buyers

The government has agreed to continue the passenger vehicle sales tax (SST) exemption until June next year to encourage buying of vehicles.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the exemption will now also cover completely knocked down (CKD) as well as completely built up (CBU) multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) and sports utility vehicles (SUV).

For CKD, 100 per cent exemptions are given while 50 per cent exemptions are given to CBUs including for MPVs and SUVs.

The SST exemption was introduced on June 15, 2020 under the Penjana programme and had been scheduled to end last December 31 but was then extended to the same date this year.

Reduction of EPF contribution from 11 to nine per cent

Putrajaya said it is extending the reduction of the statutory contribution rates for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) until June 2022.

The contribution rates will stay at nine per cent.

EPF said the new remittance structure only affects employees below 60 years old. The statutory contribution rate for employees aged 60 and above remains unchanged.

The new rates will apply throughout 2021, affecting wages for the months of January 2021 (February 2021’s contribution) up to December 2021 (January 2022’s contribution).

Tax exemptions

The government intends to extend the special individual income tax relief of up to RM2,500 on the purchase of mobile phones, computers and tablets until December 31, 2022. Another RM1,000 will be for domestic tourism, RM2,500 for upskilling and RM3,000 for kindergartens or nursery schools.

The government has allocated RM300 million for the e-Start initiative ― involving the provision of RM150 e-wallet credit ― to encourage youths to use e-wallets.

PTPTN discounts

The government will offer discounts to National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) borrowers to encourage repayment under Budget 2022.

The discounts will start from November 1, 2021 and last until 30, April 2022.

The government has agreed to offer 15 per cent discounts for those who repay the entire loan amount, 12 per cent if you pay 50 per cent of the loan in one payment or 10 per cent discount if you have it auto-debited from your salary based on a schedule.

JaminKerja

The government’s initiative to help those with no jobs was the introduction of Jamin Kerja Keluarga Malaysia (JaminKerja) that aims to create 600,000 job opportunities with an allocation of RM4.8 billion.

The JaminKerja initiative has several sub-programmes, among them being the Insentif Penggajian JaminanKerja (JaminKerja Employment Incentive) involving an allocation of RM2 billion.

Under this initiative the government would provide several incentives for employers who hire the jobless.

MySTEP Programme will be continued, targeting 80,000 contract employment opportunities, covering 50,000 jobs in the public sector and 30,000 jobs in government-linked companies (GLCs) from January next year.

Semarak Niaga

Acknowledging that many M40 households are business owners, the government has allocated RM40 billion under the SemarakNiaga program to help businesses in Malaysia on the road to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic for Budget 2022.

Entrepreneurs from small to big businesses for next year under the programme called Semarak Niaga Keluarga Malaysia will benefit from direct loans, financing guarantees and equity injections regardless if they are micro-enterprises or public listed companies.

Additional financing worth RM1.8 billion will be provided through various agencies such as Tekun, Agrobank, BSN, Bank Rakyat and Bank Negara Malaysia.

The Informal and Micro Financing Scheme under Tekun will offer loans of up to RM10,000 at an interest rate of 0 per cent with a moratorium for 12 months with priority given to informal and micro sector traders.

Apart from that, BSN and Agrobank will also offer microloans of up to RM75,000 at a rate of 0 per cent for the first six months with a moratorium facility of up to six months.