Chua Tee Yong: Assist merchants to face GST, guidance replaces fine

Sin Chew Daily 17 June 2015

(Selangor, Petaling Jaya 16 June) Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong said he has instructed Customs officers to assist merchants facing issues with goods and services tax (GST) to change from imposing fine to offering guidance.

However, he said Customs officers would not compromise with merchants who deliberately make mistakes such as shops charging GST without registering with Customs Department. They would be hauled up.

He said this at the opening ceremony of Customs Department meeting up with GST registered businesses. In implementing GST, he said there are some grey areas. Whether to impose GST on water and electricity bills are grey areas faced by the authorities now.

Citing an example, he said under GST Act, if the water and electricity bills are listed under owner’s name, despite a tenancy agreement showing the premise is utilised for commercial purposes, technically the tenant can’t claim for refund of GST.

Chua said up till 14 June, a total of 62,837 businesses (82.9%) have submitted their statements in May. Of the 74,724 registered businesses, 3.12% or 2,328 of them have submitted their monthly statement in June. A total of 347,033 businesses would be submitting their monthly statement in July.

Due to overwhelming response of the event, the authorities may explore the possibility of conducting similar meeting nationwide after the last session on 3 July.

Collecting GST on behalf of contractors, Parent Teacher Association does not pocket any profit

Chua said the complaint on Parent Teacher Association (PTA) collecting GST from students is actually a communication error. The association is collecting GST on behalf of contractors who have been registered. The association does not pocket any profit.

At the session where Customs Department meeting up with merchants who are registered GST operators, he said the contractors normally offer computer lessons for PTA. As students sign up for the computer lessons through PTA, the association collects tuition fees on behalf of contractors.

“PTA is only collecting charges and not taking any profit. This is a misunderstanding that people think PTA is collecting GST.”

No decision on increase in toll rates

On many expressways increasing toll rates on 1 August, Chua said the Cabinet has not made a final decision on the matter. It remains as discussion stage without any decision.

Original Source: 蔡智勇：助商家應對GST‧指導取代罰款