GST refunds to begin next week, says Tengku Zafrul

The government will be making GST refunds from next week to help companies ease their cash flow. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The finance ministry is speeding up the refund of goods and services tax (GST) with payments to begin next week, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said.

He said the Customs Department will employ the “pay first and audit later” approach for selected companies based on the Goods and Services Tax (Repeal) Act 2018 and also certain criteria.

“In this regard, I have instructed the department to expedite the refund process that had been deferred due to the movement control order (MCO) and conditional MCO during which the field audits could not be done,” Tengku Zafrul said in a statement today.

He said the decision would hopefully ease the cash flow of the various business sectors during the challenging economic recovery period.

“This effort is in line with the economic recovery steps introduced under the National Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana) unveiled by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on June 5,” he said.

The refund is expected to be completed by December. -FMT