No GST on maintenance fees for all high-rise
units, says deputy minister
Maintenance fees for all types of stratified residential
properties will now be exempted from the goods and
services tax (GST), Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad
Maslan said today.
He added that this was a
shift in the government's policy on the consumption tax
which residents of low and low-medium cost apartments
had feared would still be passed to them as consumers.
The exemption would apply to all types of apartments,
condominiums and flats, he said of the tax that would be
enforced starting April 1.
"I want to confirm the change of policy. All of it.
Whether it is a condominium, flat, low or
low-medium-cost apartment. All will be exempted from
GST." |
|
"Whether it is luxury or not… medium or low… the
maintenance fees will not be charged with GST," he told
a press conference after a briefing on the 6% tax in
Kuala Lumpur today.
He said the decision was made after the government
listened to the views of residents and the leaders of
high-rise management bodies.
The reason for the
exemption, he added, was because the government felt
that building maintenance would not be a business that
would make large profits.
"It is more a service
that is operated by residents' committee, in relation to
maintenance, repair, or paying security guards. It is
not a business that focuses on big profits," Ahmad
Maslan said.
He said another factor was because
building maintenance was a service that affected a lot
of people, and similar to public transport services, it
would be exempted from GST on that basis.
Last
year, property groups and house buyers' associations had
claimed that GST would burden residents of low and
low-medium cost apartments with higher maintenance cost.
Property industry groups had sent a petition in early
December last year to the Prime Minister and Finance
Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, pointing out the
problems with the low and low-medium cost stratified
apartments.
The petition was sent by the
Association of Valuers, Property Mangers, Estate Agents
and Property Consultants in the Private Sector, Malaysia
(PEPS), National House Buyers Association (HBA), Royal
Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) and Malaysian
Institute of Professional Property Managers (MIPPM).
They wanted the government to exempt all categories of
stratified properties from GST on management fees. –
February 25, 2015.
Source:
The Malaysian Insider
, dated
25/02/2015 |