Kota Kinabalu: Oil and gas companies - SEA Hibiscus Sdn Bhd and Repsol Oil and Gas Ltd - have paid their State Sales Tax (SST) arrears amounting to RM79.41 million on Oct 3, said State Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.He told the Sabah State Assembly sitting Thursday that SEA Hibiscus settled SST arrears totalling RM70.05 million, while Repsol cleared its RM9.36 million arrears, leaving them with no further amount outstanding.
“Both companies have now started making payments on their current taxes,” he said in response to a question from Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee (SAPP-Nominated), who wanted to know the outstanding SST amount owed by SEA Hibiscus and Repsol as of October this year.
Replying to a supplementary question from Assaffal P. Alian (Warisan-Tungku) who wished to know the reason for the two companies’ delay in paying SST, Masidi said there was a legal issue being disputed by the companies, with the Sabah Government taking an opposite view.
He said the State Government informed them that it would not hesitate to apply the full legal and constitutional powers available to the State to enforce its SST demand against the companies.
“Finally, the companies decided to settle the issue amicably and comply with the demands made by the State Government.
“I have already considered them (as) our partners to develop Sabah as a result of their agreement to pay the Sales Tax,” he said.
