KOTA KINABALU: Companies which register for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) after Dec 31 this year will be fined, said Deputy Finance Minister Chua Tee Yong.
Businesses that are not registered for the GST will also be unable to claim input tax credits, thus affecting their operations, he said.
Companies should register before year-end to give them time to evaluate the impact of the new tax regime on their business, he told reporters after a dialogue entitled Understanding GST For Sabah SMEs here yesterday attended by Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah vice president Datuk Susan Wong.
Businesses with turnovers of RM500,000 or more per annum are required to register before the end of this month to qualify for the hand-holding programme by the Customs Department, and registrations after the end of this year would be subjected to penalties.
“The GST Act 2014 was gazetted in June 2014, and the government is working towards implementation and not postponement,” he said.
He said nationwide, there were 307,000 business units with turnovers above RM500,000. Out of the total, 140,000 have registered for GST.
“We are targeting that by this year’s end, about 300,000 should have registered,” Chua said.
In Sabah, only 1,900 businesses have registered for GST.
“The Customs Department here is targeting the registration of 5,000 businesses in Sabah,” he said.
Chua also said only 1,500 businesses were registering daily and they hope to raise this to 2,000 to 2,500 daily registrations.
On the influence of the GST on price differences between the peninsula and Sabah, he said the GST is only one component determining market prices, other than the exchange rate, supply and demand, and wages, among others.
He also said no companies have been authorized or appointed by the government to collect fees for the registration of GST.
According to the deputy minister, the registration for GST is free and businesses could register at any Customs office nationwide.
He also said that there were accounting firms charging their clients to register for GST.