FOREIGN workers will have to pay 80% of the annual RM10,000 levy per worker, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

He made the announcement in his speech at the opening of Rehda’s annual property development conference today.

The levy applies to foreign workers in the manufacturing, construction, plantation, services, agriculture, mining and quarry sectors.

Lim did not state when this would take effect.

“Today, I want to announce that we are tweaking the levy that is supposed to be paid by employers. We have received complaints and we understand that this was quite a heavy burden.

“So we are tweaking it to allow a 20%-80% share, where 20% is paid by the employers and 80% by the foreign workers,” Lim said to applause from those attending the developers’ conference.

Beginning this year, employers were required to pay the levy per worker each year, in line with a cabinet decision on March 25, 2016.

The levy is applicable when the foreign worker applies to extend the temporary working permit (PLKS), which is extendable for up to three years. The rate was originally RM1,850.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have complained about the big hike in the levy and at being asked to bear the cost.

Lim said with the 20-80 structure, employers would only have to spend RM150 more per worker above the old levy rate of RM1,850.

“This leeway will help reduce the need to recruit inexperienced foreign workers who require long, additional on the job training, and also help to reduce your cost.”

He said the move was aimed at helping employers retain skilled workers, adding that the construction sector in particular, was short of experienced labourers.

The RM10,000 levy applies to those who have already worked up to ten years in Malaysia and are seeking extensions using the PLKS, which had to be renewed every year up to a cap of three years. – September 24, 2018.