KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 — A survey on Goods and Services Tax (GST) among traders showed today that that the Customs Department had managed to resolve only 22 per cent of complaints directed to its hotline and online portal, with another 30 per cent not even bothering to consult the federal agency on problems that had emerged after the new tax rolled out on April 1.

In the survey by the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM), 26 per cent of respondents said their problems remain unresolved, while another 22 per cent said the Customs did not even respond to their calls or complaint in the first place.

This comes as the survey revealed that 43 per cent of respondents felt that the GST has affected their businesses negatively, compared to 30 per cent who felt it had a positive effect.

The industries that suffered the highest negative impact were logistics at 59 per cent, property development (51 per cent), and imports and exports (50 per cent).

Chief among the complaints were problems in operating the GST accounting software, which was suffered by 63 per cent of those surveyed, while 58 per cent said their GST software is not working properly.

In addition, 58 per cent of traders said the GST has affected their company’s cash flow, with half of the respondents having troubles in claiming refund on the input tax.

ACCCIM also said that 48 per cent of respondents did not utilise the RM1,000 e-vouchers offered by Putrajaya for small and medium enterprises (SME) to purchase or upgrade their GST accounting software.

“This indicates that the e-voucher of RM1,000 per SME is not cost-beneficial or effective to assist the SME in alleviating the cost of implementing GST,” it said in its report.

ACCCIM’s survey was conducted between June 20 to July 31 this year among 963 respondents, through 17 of its constituent chambers located across the country.

Malaysia’s GST rate of 6 per cent was rolled out on April 1 this year.