Customs to collect additional RM5bil-RM6bil annually with GST

Published: Thursday November 21, 2013 MYT 5:49:00 PM 

Updated: Thursday November 21, 2013 MYT 5:51:26 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department expects to collect an additional RM5bil to RM6bil in tax annually once the goods and services tax (GST) is implemented in 2015.

Its Senior Assistant Director (GST Section), Mohd Sabri Saad, said the GST would replace the current sales and services tax (SST), which had contributed between RM16bil and RM17bil in income to the government annually.

He said overall the GST was expected to contribute about RM21bil to government. 

"The implementation should not burden the people as it is not a new tax but a replacement of SST. Only those goods and services which were not taxed before will have a one-off impact in terms of prices," said Mohd Sabri.

Mohd Sabri said this to reporters after a GST briefing by the Royal Malaysian Customs, Federal Territory for the media and representatives from Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations and Seniman, an artist association.

He said after the implementation of the GST, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was expected to increase slightly.

Being part of government's tax reform programme, the GST was more efficient, effective, business-friendly, transparent and capable of generating a more stable source of revenue, he said.

On the proposed GST Model to replace SST, he said the tax would be charged at the rate of six per cent.

He said only businesses with gross sales of RM500,000 and above were subjected to the tax while small businesses would be excluded. 

On the issue of price increase due to profiteering, Ahmad Sabri said government would use Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act 2010 to curb the problem. 

"A comprehensive awareness programme will be conducted on GST, and a shopper's guide will also be produced three months before the GST implementation to inform consumers on price changes," he said.

The shoppers guide, which covers 925 items in CPI basket, will serve as a reference on the movements of the prices of goods and services after GST. - Bernama