KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 — Businesses that missed the deadline to register for the goods and services tax (GST) face fines or legal action as the Customs Department has embarked on a nationwide operation to ferret out evaders.
Local English daily The Star reported today the operation dubbed “Ops Khas GST” will involve 5,000 officers and began yesterday in Kedah, Johor, Kelantan and Terengganu; the operations will begin in other states today.
It quoted the department’s GST director Datuk Subromaniam Tholasy as saying that “no leeway” will be given to non-compliant businesses as they received a three-week notice prior to the operation.
“The offenders will be issued a compound fine of RM15,000 and will also be forced to register the companies,” he said, adding the traders have to two weeks to pay their fines or risked being charged in court.
Subromaniam added that the department had no choice but to enforce strict measures in order to be fair to other traders who have registered for GST.
The deadline for registration was extended to February 28 this year from December last year, and The Star reported that 60,000 businesses have yet to register to GST as of February 27.
Many traders nationwide were uncertain over the implementation of GST, especially small traders or family-run businesses, as they would need to include technology into their businesses and sell their products with an additional six per cent.
They cited computer illiteracy as one the main reasons for not registering to GST, a reason that Subromaniam dismissed as “excuses”.
Some traders chose to close down their businesses instead of facing the new tax system.
However, the Customs Director-General Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said there should be no confusion as there were educational campaigns on GST and the government would provide RM1,000 subsidy for businesses to buy accounting softwares.
The GST rollout begins on April 1.
