Now minister proposes GST exemption for mobile prepaid
reloads
KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek
has proposed that prepaid mobile reloads be exempted
from the Goods and Services Tax (GST), as the
Multimedia and Communications Minister believes that
is the solution many Malaysians wanted.
“Because this is what Malaysians want, I will
follow. That means if you purchase RM10, you get
RM10 worth of airtime. I believe this can happen, it
is not impossible,” he said during a live interview
on national broadcaster TV1.
“I will call
the CEOs from telcos, we will find a mechanism so
what when people buy RM10, they get RM10.
“We must give the people what they want,” the
minister stressed. He said he will also inform the
Cabinet and explain the rationale of his solution to
the prepaid reload issue.
But Ahmad Shabery
did not state who would absorb the GST costs for the
prepaid reloads.
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Last Friday, the
communication and multimedia minister said Putrajaya
would lose RM800 million in tax revenue yearly if
prepaid reloads were exempted from the GST, adding that
he did not want this to happen as most prepaid users
were foreigners.
The pricing of prepaid reloads
was among the most visible signs of confusion following
the implementation of the GST, after telecommunication
companies raised prices to incorporate the tax, despite
public directives from Deputy Finance Minister Datuk
Ahmad Maslan not to do so.
The Customs Department on April 29 told
telecommunication companies to revert the prices for
prepaid reload coupons to pre-GST levels by May 1,
meaning that a RM10 top-up card would be sold at RM10
with airtime credit of RM9.43.
However, the
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
said prepaid reload coupons will still be sold with GST
added to the price, meaning Malaysians will buy a top-up
coupon valued at an airtime credit of RM10 for RM10.60.
This finally prompted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Razak to tell Ahmad Shabery to “take charge” of the
issue. He also enforced a gag on non-ministers making
statements on the matter over the weekend.
Source:::
Malay Mail Online , dated 04/05/2015......... |