RM5 billion in GST refunds so far, says deputy minister

The government has given out approximately RM5 billion in goods and services tax (GST) refunds to companies, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

"It is not true to say that the government did not refund. In fact, approximately RM5 billion in refunds have been made to date," he said.

"Only those who were ineligible for the refunds, including companies which were unfit to file GST refunds but still submitted claims request, did not receive any refund," he told reporters after opening the Corporate Malaysia Roundtable Post Budget 2016 Dialogue in Kuala Lumpur today.

Chua said since the GST implementation in April, the government had rejected claims for refunds worth about RM400 million as many errors were made by companies making the claims.

He said the Customs Department had to be extra careful when processing refunds in order to avoid any incidence of monies being paid to wrong accounts.

Chua also said GST refunds made within 14 working days had increased 41% since the new tax regime was implemented on April 1, 2015, and the government expected the percentage to increase further.

"Malaysia has set a very high target at trying to achieve the target of completing the refunds within 14 days," he said, adding that the average GST refund process adapted in other nations took about 50 days to complete.

He said the government welcomed accounting practitioners to look into how to strengthen the process in order to meet the 14-day target. – Bernama, November 3, 2015.