Businesses with outstanding GST amounts given 3 months

THE customs department has given businesses with outstanding Goods and Services Tax (GST) three months to pay up or face stern action.
The department's director-general, Datuk Subromaniam Tholasy, said some 62,000 companies have failed to submit GST or undeclared the amount due, Oriental Daily News reported today.
He said the department had issued reminders to these errant business operators last month, directing them to pay up within three months or face stern action.
"We have issued 'friendly reminders' to these companies, giving them three months to settle the amounts owing.
"If they failed to pay up within the stipulated period, our enforcement officers will take firm action against them," he said.
He said the department can haul these errant business operators to court or have their major shareholders barred from leaving the country until the full amount of GST owing is settled.
Under the Goods and Services Tax Act 2014, the customs director-general can request the immigration director-general to bar those owing GST from travelling abroad.
The same Act also allows the customs to withhold goods imported by a company with outstanding GST until the amount owing is fully settled.
Subromaniam told the daily that this year, the department expects to collect RM40 billion in GST, which was introduced on April 1, 2015.
Meanwhile, SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang urged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to clear all doubts they have regarding GST with the customs department to avoid action taken against them due to their ignorance or misinterpretation of the law.
He said he had received complaints from some SMEs that customs officials were going after them for GST although they have been submitting the tax on time.