Customs and IRB explanation of GST preparations satisfactory, says PAC

BY ELIZABETH ZACHARIAH

NOVEMBER 26, 2013

LATEST UPDATE: NOVEMBER 26, 2013 08:46 PM

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is “satisfied” with the explanations by both the Customs Department and the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) about their preparations prior to implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April 2015.

The PAC, headed by chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed (pic), met with Customs director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad and IRB CEO Datuk Dr Mohd Shukor Mahfar to seek an explanation over the issue.

Nur Jazlan told a press conference later that while the committee was satisfied with preparations by both the Customs and the IRB, some improvements still needed to be made before the GST is implemented.

"This is our first time calling both the departments as PAC takes what happens with our tax money very seriously. The government has to be more prudent in their spending and at the same time increase their collections," he said.

"We need to increase the number of taxpayers and educate them that income from taxes is the main source of revenue for many countries," he said, adding that there are only about 1.7 million tax payers out of the 12 million workforce.

He revealed that the Customs Department is now in the process of improving their IT system in anticipation of the GST implementation.

"They expect to launch the new system in 2015 and we hope it will improve the custom management in collecting the GST and other taxes.

Nur Jazlan also disclosed that the committee will be meeting with the Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government Ministry next week over the construction of incinerators as some built earlier are not operational.

"The ministry plans to build a few more incinerators, so we will seek an explanation from them over the projects," he added. - November 26, 2013.