M'sia Govt To Implement GST After Agreement With Business Community

By Frank Julian Martin JOHOR BAHARU (Johore, Malaysia), 14 Feb (Bernama) -- The government will only implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) after it has received the agreement from the business community including the country's small and medium enterprises. Until then, there is no specific date for the implementation of the GST, said Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim Siang Chai. "A round table conference will be held with the various chambers of commerce in the middle of this year to get feedback on the matter. "If the majority of them agree, we will table the bill on the introduction of the GST for second reading in Parliament," he said. Lim said this to reporters after officiating the Goods and Services Tax Conference 2012 jointly organised by Johor Corporation, Malaysian Association of Tax Accountants (MATA), Royal Malaysian Customs and Johor Institute of Management Development (Institut Pembangunan Pengurusan Johor Sdn Bhd), here Tuesday. The first reading of the GST bill was done on Dec 16, 2009 at a rate of 4 per cent, however the chambers of commerce reported that 80 per cent of the business community are not ready for its implementation. Lim also said the GST implementation system for consumers has been undertaken and is nearing completion while a detailed study at the government and companies' level will be done following that. He said GST is a fairer system as the tax is imposed upon spending or when using services. "The more we spend, the more tax we will have to pay," he said. However, exemption from GST is allowed for necessity goods such as rice, flour and sugar. GST, he added, will expose those involved in shadow economy and place them in the GST system. --BERNAMA