SHAH ALAM, 27 June: Over 80 percent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) do not know and do not understand the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The President of the Small Medium Enterprises Association (SME), Teh Kee Sin, said that he urged the Federal Government to extend the grace period for full implementation to three years to allow SME entrepreneurs become familiar with the new tax.
“The grace period to familiarise is too short. Do not penalise us, if there are some who are unable to understand the new tax, when it is implemented.
“The government has given a two-year timeframe, but we are hoping for a three-year grace period for SMEs,” he said, quoted from Bernama.
The GST will be implemented from April 1, 2015 at the rate of six per cent to replace the Sales and Services Tax (SST). The SST is at present set at 10 per cent and six per cent respectively.
Teh urged the government to increase the value of the GST e-voucher for SMEs to purchase or improve their accounting software to be GST compliant, from RM1,000 to RM2,000, to reduce the burden of the entrepreneurs concerned.
“Sometimes, SMEs perform their accounts manually. We think that RM1,000 is not enough, especially for SMEs who do not have computers and calculate their accounts manually. So, if it is possible, we hope that the government will double the vouchers,” he said.
NS
