92 per cent of GST refunds disbursed to registered traders

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has disbursed 92 per cent of the goods and services tax (GST) refunds to the registered traders for the period April to June, 2015 within 14 days as stipulated.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani said for the rest, the companies made a few mistakes when making their refunds like in filling up the tax return forms and the department failed to contact the them.

Johari said this to reporters after his first visit to the Federal Territories Customs Department in Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, here Monday.

On complaints of delay in getting refunds, he said some of the companies did not follow the rules in filing their forms.

“And, some companies also made outlandish claims of up to RM144 million even though upon through examination they were entitled to only RM1 million in GST refunds,” he said.

On the GST collected so far, he said the total amount would be disclosed in December after a full analysis was carried out to ensure that the information made public was accurate.

“Whatever announcement made by the government affects foreign and local investors, so, we have to be careful,” he said.

He said 98 per cent of companies complied with the GST regulations, while the remaining two per cent still needed time to adapt to the change from the sales and services tax and the department would continue to assist them.

Meanwhile, Johari proposed that the department created a special division to locate companies that failed to register for the GST as out of about one million companies registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia SSM, only 389,000 were GST registrants.

He said the special division could collaborate with the SSM and the Inland Revenue Board to detect errant companies and checks could be made with the SSM to detect their status as to whether they were still active or otherwise.

“It could be turned into a database as information on companies could help facilitate foreign and local shareholders in making investment decisions,” he said.

According to the GST Act 2014, companies that fail to register for the GST maybe liable to a fine not exceeding RM30,000 or a jail term not exceeding two years, or both, if convicted or slapped with a compound of up to RM15,000.

Present was Royal Malaysian Customs Department Director-General Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad.