Sabah bogged down by GST software woes

They are generally not customised to suit a client’s particular needs.

KOTA KINABALU: The implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Sabah as elsewhere in the country, according to Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta), has been bogged down by inappropriate GST software. “These software were formulated by firms ignorant of the needs of their clients.”

“It has added further stress to the woes plaguing the travel sector.”

Matta Vice President for Inbound, Tan Kok Liang, pointed out that the 300,000 GST-registered businesses have 180 GST-certified Royal Malaysian Customs (RMC) compliant software at their disposal. “These software are either below RM2,000, between RM2,000 and RM10,000 or above RM10,000.”

“They are generally not customised to suit a client’s particular needs.”

He conceded that many firms did not take the GST seriously until early this year when it became evident that the government was going ahead with the value added tax from April 1. “This created a severe bottle neck when there was a sudden demand for GST software, services and training within a very short time.”

He did not rule out Matta getting its GST consultants to design software with “tour and travel related features” for its members. “There should be a special plug-in programme which will provide the GST accounting functionality and the convenience of tour and travel functions.”

He was urging the Customs Department to revisit their approval of GST software and vendors, review their manpower requirements and educate them on basic GST rules, business requirements and expectations. “This is the only way that the software vendors can support businesses to implement GST.”

Many software providers, he complained, had little knowledge of GST laws and rules. Also, there aren’t enough software personnel to support GST software training for clients. “This is so crucial for successful software adoption,” he added. “This has left many small and micro businesses in the lurch.”

Citing a litany of grievances, he said that businesses were now saddled with tax invoices not in line with GST specifications and erroneous collection of GST as a result of wrong coding/setting of GST standard-rated, zero-rated and tax-exempt goods and services. “Many businesses have been forced to resort to Excel-generated invoices or even manual tax invoices just to pull through.”

He alleged that there were also cases of businesses not getting the software for which they had paid, besides being left with software they couldn’t manage or being deprived of necessary support services.

“Many of these software providers are not GST-savvy and they may have not attended the programmes conducted by the Customs Department,” he lamented. “They can’t take the standard approach of selling something and doing the disappearing act. There’s a need for follow-up service and supplies.”