Call for Malaysian tax rebates on personal protective equipment

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Malaysia has called on the government to provide tax rebates for manufacturing or importing PPE (personal protective equipment). This would make PPE more affordable and encourage employers to buy top grade workwear.

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thy, the chairman of NIOSH, said: “I would like to propose to the government to consider granting tax rebate for imported PPE to make it more affordable and encourage employers to acquire quality PPE for their employees.

“ A tax rebate for PPE will be an incentive to help promote safety and health at the workplace.” He added that PPE is crucial to safer work culture, but some Malaysian employers complain about the high price of imported PPE equipment.

In Britain, safety boots and helmets purchased for industrial use have zero rate VAT, provided they are manufactured to the appropriate European or British safety standards. Other types of PPE have standard VAT applied to them. There is no high-profile campaign to create further tax rebates on PPE.

PPE equipment can be claimed as business expenses for self-employed contract workers. Employers who issue protective workwear to employees can declare them as HMRC expenses for tax purposes.

British manufacturers, exporters, and importers of PPE do not receive tax rebates. If Malaysia does give tax rebates for imported PPE, this could make the price of British brands of PPE more attractive to Malaysian businesses who want to purchase them.