Govt urges 55,000 SMEs to quickly redeem GST e-voucher

About 55,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which have downloaded the Goods and Services Tax (GST) e-voucher need to redeem the government's aid before the end of this month, says Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

A total of 150,000 companies have downloaded the e-voucher and only 95,000 have utilized them.

"They only have five days to redeem the e-voucher...so hurry up before the implementation of the GST on April 1," he told reporters at the Second Malaysia Entrepreneur Forum 2015.

The e-voucher is an assistance provided by the government to help ease the burden of the SMEs in transforming their current system to the GST scheme.

The government has provided an allocation of RM150 million for them to purchase and upgrade their accounting system and the assistance is available in the form of a GST e-voucher worth RM1,000.

Mustapa also said the government would help the SMEs and in fact all Malaysians towards welcoming the GST.

"The government will continue its discussion on ways to help entrepreneurs and people adjust to the six per cent tax," he added.

Meanwhile, MITI today worked hand-in-hand with its agencies to provide exposure to SMEs besides providing networking sessions involving SMEs and successful companies.

Themed, 'Access to Global Markets', the one-day event focused on exporting local products ahead of the Asean Economic Community.

Some 1,200 participants attended the programme