Tax auto-assessments for traders who fail to submit GST returns

PUTRAJAYA: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department will carry out auto-assessment tax from Oct 12 on businesses which have failed to submit their Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns.
This will be the first such move from Putrajaya on traders attempting to evade the tax-return submission since its implementation on April 1.
Customs director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said to date 22,184 businesses, from over 310,000 who have registered for the tax, have not submitted their GST-03 statements to the department.
"Of this, 800 are businesses with a GST turnover of RM5 million while the remaining are from those below RM5 million turnover.
"This auto-assessment is in line with the requirement under Section 43 of the GST Act 2014, which provides the authority to the Director-General to auto-assess those who failed to submit their returns on time," he told a press conference at the Customs headquarters here today.
He said a notice of tax claims will be issued on Oct 12 and businesses have to settle the amount assessed within two weeks, failing which they will be penalised under the GST Act 2014.
"We will issue a compound to these companies, RM25,000 for the first time. If they still fail to pay, we will issue another compound, also RM25,000.
"And if they insist on not paying, and not coming to meet us to discuss the matter, then I will have no choice but to bring them to court under Section 41 (6) of the act," he added.
Khazali hoped the Customs will not be forced to take such action as it is always open and willing to discuss with traders any problems.
He said his department has been trying to contact with these businesses and even sent them reminders to submit their returns, but has so far this has fallen on deaf ears.
If traders are dissatisfied with the amount assessed by Customs they could still appeal, he added.
However, he pointed out that some traders could still benefit from the auto-assessment if it was assessed lower than the businesses' income.
"With this in mind, we will have auditors tol follow up on these businesses, and the audit is being planned now.
"We will ensure that no one will take advantage. To me, it's a fraud if businesses keep mum when the auto-assess is lower than what they are supposed to pay," he said.
Tax auto-assessment will be based on the declared thresholds of the businesses when they registered for GST during the registration process.
On rumors that a lot of businesses had to close because of the newly-implemented tax, Khazali said GST should not be used as a scapegoat.
"It's not so much because of GST, it's their own choice. Maybe some of them are simply closing down because of old age, that could also be a reason," he added.
Khazali also commented on a Malaysian Employers Federation survey which found that over 50% of companies saying that GST officers were not knowledgable enough to answer their queries.
He said the public can always make accusations that his officers were not competent, but he gave an assurance the department was constantly updating their staff on the tax.
He added in his department, he was confident in saying he has officers who were very competent in carrying their tasks.