Malaysia hailed as good example of GST application

JOHOR BARU: Malaysia’s implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been hailed as an example for other countries to follow.

Customs Department GST division deputy director Datuk T. Subromaniam said the department’s director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad picked up the Asia Tax Commissioner of the Year award at a ceremony in Singapore earlier this month.

He added that the award was given due to the successful implementation of the GST in April last year.

Subromaniam said this was due to the department’s efforts in educating all Malaysians on how the GST works and its benefits.

“Not only that, the International Monetary Fund even cited Malaysia as a great model for other countries, in particular within the Middle East, to follow when they want to have such a tax system.

“For example, the United Arab Emirates will be implementing the GST in 2018.

“They invited us over there to teach them how our department successfully implemented the tax system,” he added.

Subromaniam was speaking to newsmen after attending a dialogue session with sundry shop and restaurant owners at Menara Kastam here yesterday.

He pointed out that one of the reasons Middle Eastern countries were looking at implementing their own tax system was due to the drop in crude oil prices, which had contributed to a significant loss of revenue in their respective countries.

Subromaniam said this showed that the move by the Government in replacing the GST with the Sales and Service Tax was a good move that benefited Malaysia economically.

On another matter, Subromaniam reminded 25,000 companies out of the more than 400,000 companies registered under the GST to submit their tax collection to the department immediately or face stern action.

“This involves more than 40,000 tax returns and we hope these companies are able to settle the matter immediately.

“If they face problems in returning their tax, then they should come to our department where we can help them.

“If they fail to do so, the department will have no choice but to issue them a compound or take them to court,” he said.