E-WALLET vouchers and credit, plus tax breaks for buying new cars and properties are among incentives Putrajaya has announced to spur consumption as the economy struggles to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The incentives are part of the RM35 billion “Penjana” economic rescue package that was announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today.

The package comes as the Malaysian economy is expected to contract in the later part of the year due to movement controls to curb the spread of the virus.

To continue promoting the use of e-commerce among local businesses and the use of contactless payment methods, RM50 will be credited to consumers’ e-wallets.

“This will be complemented with additional vouchers, cash rebates and discounts worth RM50 from e-wallet companies,” Muhyiddin said in a televised address today.

“The initiative will start from July 2020 and benefit about 15 million people,” said Muhyiddin, adding that the scheme was part of the e-Penjana programme worth RM750 million.

In a graphic shown during the telecast of Muhyiddin’s speech, the e-wallet credit and vouchers will be for Malaysians aged 18 and above earning less than RM100,000 per year.

Tax breaks for properties and cars

To boost the sluggish property sector, the government is waiving stamp duties on loan agreements and ownership transfer documents for residential units worth RM300,000 to RM2.5 million.

The waivers on stamp duties on 14 types of ownership transfer documents is limited to the first RM1 million of the value of the residential property.

A full waiver, however, is given for stamp duties on loan agreements on sale between June 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021 but it will be dependent on two conditions:

1. that there is a 10% discount by developers.
2. exemption on real property gains tax to individual Malaysian citizens on the sale of residential properties between June 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

Also, the 70% ceiling on financing from banks has been temporarily suspended for an individual’s third loan to buy residential properties worth more than RM600,000.

“To further boost the growth of the automotive sector, the government has agreed to a 100% tax exemption on sales of locally assembled vehicles from June 15 to December 31 this year,” said the prime minister.

The tax break for imported vehicles will be capped at 50%. – June 5, 2020.