Most contractors have not registered for GST

Even an association consisting of 10,000 members have shunned registration, says Customs Department deputy director-general.

KUALA LUMPUR: Contractors and e-commerce merchants are among the biggest culprits who have not registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Customs Department deputy director-general Subromaniam Tholasy said.

He said until today, contractors from various classes and sub-contractors constituted the biggest errant group.

“We even have an association of contractors consisting of 10,000 members and all of them have shunned registration,” he said after attending a discussion on the “Post implementation of the GST: Managing Issues and Challenges” here today.

Subromaniam said some of the errant contractors earned as much as RM500,000 a month.

He said the Customs Department targeted to increase GST registrants to 400,000 by early next year.

Subromaniam said the department would introduce a GST guide for housing and real estate developers to enlighten industry players and people on the tax regime.

Meanwhile, Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association chairman Ng Sieng Liong said the construction and real estate industry had asked the government to consider giving tax breaks for building materials such as cement and steel bars to ease the burden of industry players.

“We will submit a memorandum to seek clarification on a number of issues related to taxation for the people to have a better understanding of them,” he said.

The discussion was held in conjunction with the International Accountants Conference 2015 hosted by the Malaysian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

– BERNAMA