UEC fees exempted from new tax

KUALA LUMPUR: The Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) fees for Chinese independent high schools under United Chinese School Committees’ Association (Dong Zong) will be exempted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong said the Customs Department had ­decided that any education expenses would not be subjected to the GST.

“The high schools originally were not GST exempted from the examination fees because the institutions were not registered under the Education Ministry.

“Usually based on the exam guidelines, all fees for primary, secondary and private schools should not be subjected to the GST,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Without the extra charges for examination fees, he said the burden of parents would be lightened.

Dong Zong, a business organisation, had earlier submitted information pertaining to the exam operations to the relevant department to be looked into.

Meanwhile, Chua said, as of March 1, 40,000 companies had yet to register for the GST.

“Perhaps some of them have not exceeded the target sales of RM500,000 on their current financial report as compared to the previous year. But to the companies which are reluctant to register, the Customs Department has started to take action against them,” he said. — Bernama