JUNE 28 — The recent announcement made by the Finance Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz that the Government will expedite the Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund to ease the cash flows of businesses during this trying time is applauded. He said the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) will employ "pay first and audit later” approach for selected companies.

Whilst this initiative may sound comforting, businesses must understand that the refund would not come by easily or automatically as the RMCD has issued a statement via its web portal to explain that the refund would still be subject to verifications. This essentially means that the RMCD would not blindly refund the money as some forms of checking will be performed.

Therefore, businesses can expect the refund to be prolonged if the RMCD has reasonable grounds to believe that the claim is not legit or there are some issues that remain unresolved. So, what are the common issues that cause the delay in refund and what should businesses do to resolve the issues to expedite the refund?

Common issues

There are various reasons and factors that could cause the refund to be delayed, the most common ones being: