ACCCIM sees red over action for GST-related offence

PETALING JAYA: The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) has censured the Customs department for going back on its word to put off punitive actions in the first two years of the implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST).
"We read with deep concern the intense efforts made by the Customs to intensely scrutinise, catch and sue business outlets that did not fully comply with the GST regulations. The purposeful antics of using mystery shoppers to catch clearly shows the intent to put fear into the people," its president Datuk Lim Kok Cheong said in a statement released on Saturday.
An english daily reported on Thursday that less than a month after the implementation of the GST, a restaurant in Petaling Jaya is the first in the nation to claim trial under the GST Act 2014 at the Sessions Court.
The charge was for issuing about 2,000 invoices not containing details as required by Section 22 of the GST Act from April 7 to 11.
ACCCIM said the business community had anticipated the many teething problems of adopting the GST implementation and have requested and was assured that a learning period of two years will be allowed for genuine mistakes and misunderstandings.He agrees however, that action should be taken against those who wilfully abuse the GST implementation.
Lim said both the business community and Customs are on steep learning curves and the months before the dateline, until even now, Customs are still not absolutely clear and are unable to give definitive guidance on many questions and issues.
He said, instead of the Customs promise to assist and handhold through the learning period, the Customs have, from day one, been intensely scrutinising, threatening, charging and arresting those who have not correctly complied with the GST rulings.
Lim went on to add that there has been neither attempt to educate and guide the business operator nor any opportunity given for mistakes to be rectified and corrected.
"We call on Customs to hold back all such punitive and drastic actions and instead honour the agreed learning period where the business operators are tutored and cautioned."
"The rush to callously allege profiteering and wilful non-compliance is not necessary. Indeed the confusion between Service Tax and Service Charge is a clear example of the misunderstanding that has arisen. The current debacle over the GST element in the pre-paid reloads further shows the difference of understanding and opinions between the different agencies of the government itself," Lim said.
He reiterated the association call for Customs to honour the agreement to have a moratorium of two years on penalties for genuine mistakes and misunderstanding of the GST rules with, the caveat that this moratorium does not apply to those who wilfully design to abuse the GST implementation.