In response to heightened scrutiny over country of origin declarations amid ongoing global tariff tensions, Singapore Customs issued Circular No. 06/2025 on 9 June 2025 to provide important clarification on the applicable preferential and non-preferential rules of origin when declaring the “country of origin” for importation into, exportation out of, and transshipments through Singapore.

Following the re-tabling of the Malaysian Budget 2023 on 24 February 2023, the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board and Royal Malaysian Customs Department have reintroduced the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme 2.0 and the Voluntary Disclosure Programme which apply to direct taxes and indirect taxes respectively. A similar programme was previously implemented in 2022 for indirect taxes and in 2019 for direct taxes, although there are some key differences in respect of the scope and incentives.

As part of the Malaysian Budget 2022 speech last year, the Minister of Finance announced that it will introduce a special voluntary disclosure program for indirect taxes as part of concerted measures to increase tax revenue for the Malaysian Government. The guidelines underpinning the foregoing program was recently published by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department with a notable inclusion of an amnesty element within the framework of the rebranded Voluntary Disclosure and Amnesty Program for indirect taxes.