Restaurants and hotels to get service charge
certificates
PETALING JAYA: The Domestic Trade, Cooperative and
Consumerism Ministry will be issuing a service charge
certificate to restaurants and hotels soon.
Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek said the certificate
would be similar to the halal certificate so consumers
would be informed about the specifics of the service
charge imposed.
“You can’t say you don’t want to
pay if you know (beforehand) the restaurant is charging
a 10% service charge on top of the goods and services
tax of 6%,” he said.
According to Hasan, the 10% service charge must be
stipulated in the collective agreement (CA) between
employers and employees before businesses can impose it.
“The employers decide on the amount of service charge
imposed, and it is a law of contract between two
parties,” said Hasan, who added that restaurants could
also opt to charge a figure that was less than 10%.
On restaurants still using handwritten bills while
charging GST and service charge, Hasan said they would
be given until the end of the month to switch to
machine-printed receipts. |
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On traders being charged under the Anti-Profiteering Act
2011, Hasan confirmed that no cases had been brought to
court so far, but added that the ministry was carrying
out several investigations.
The Malaysian Association of Hotels, meanwhile, said
that service charge was a universal practice and had
been applied in Malaysia for decades without any
problems.
“It is very unfortunate that Deputy
Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan’s recent statement
on the matter has confused consumers into thinking that
the charge is a kind of tax to the Government,”
association president Cheah Swee Hee said.
He
added that since 1975, the service tax was imposed by
the Government through the legislation of Sales and
Service Tax (SST) Act.
“Since then, the standard
hotel practice is price plus 10% service charge and 5%
government tax.
“Subsequently, the government
tax portion was increased to 6% and on April 1, the SST
was replaced with the Goods and Services Tax (GST),” he
said.
Source:
The Star Online
, dated
09/04/2015 |