Exempt petty traders from GST, urges trade body
– Bernama
The Malaysian Indian Textiles and General Stores
Association (Mita) has urged the government to consider
exempting petty traders from the goods and services tax
(GST) which will be implemented from April 1, 2015.
Its secretary, Maheshwari Ramasamy, said the tax should
not be imposed on traders from the lower level of
retailing business though sometimes they met the
RM500,000 threshold.
"Mita felt that the GST
should be imposed only on wholesalers and retailers who
conduct large quantity business.
"It’s good
enough to collect GST from the big industry players and
not burden petty traders and sundry shop owners who will
be bogged down by the new accounting procedures for
GST," she told Bernama.
Maheswary said more GST workshops were needed for better
understanding of the new tax regime. |
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"Workshops will help the traders understand the GST
better as they will have some hands-on tutorials on GST.
"We prefer workshops rather than seminars as most of
them give low preference with regards to GST accounting
procedures.
"The explanations given through seminars on the
accounting procedures are vague and most traders are
still in the dark over the usage of such accounting
software. "It will be appropriate if the government
gives two years' grace period for petty traders to
familiarise themselves with the GST instead of imposing
huge penalties which they could not afford.
On
the GST’s impact on businesses, she said, it would only
be visible after April 1 this year.
“However, I cannot deny we are worried that the prices
will go up but so far nothing is concrete,” she said.
Maheshwari said the GST rate should be implemented in
phases and not at 6% at one go.
It is mandatory for businesses with taxable turnover
exceeding RM500,000 to register for the GST while those
with turnover below the threshold could apply for
voluntary registration. – Bernama, January 28, 2015.
Source:
The Malaysian Insider
, dated
28/01/2015 |
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