YYC - Malaysian Goods & Services Tax
(GST) : Are You Ready?

Whilst there has been increasing speculation on the possible announcement by the Government on the implementation of Goods & Services Tax (GST) in Malaysia in year 2015, it is crucial for Malaysian businesses to plan ahead and get ready for GST. Here are 5 challenges your business will face if you are not GST ready:

1. Heavy penalties and fines

Regardless of the size of your company, the law imposes the same compliance obligations on Goods & Services Tax (GST) once the registration threshold of RM500,000 of annual turnover is reached. Whilst businesses are essentially just collecting and remitting GST for the Government non-compliance will result in penalties on the business itself.

2. Inadequate resources

Goods & Services Tax (GST) imposes additional compliance work for businesses. Without adequate knowledge on GST Malaysia, your existing team may not be able to efficiently handle the initial work such as upgrading the accounting and recording system as well as additional work to account for the tax, tracking of the input taxes paid, undertaking reconciliations and filings of GST returns.

3. Your cash flow would be affected

Businesses needs to be aware on the potential cashflow implications of Goods & Services Tax (GST) and may need to restructure their cashflow so as to prevent having cashflow problem once GST is implemented. In circumstances where businesses pays cash or has short credit periods from its suppliers, this may result in the business needing extra finances to purchase supplies when GST is first introduced. Similarly, businesses need to charge GST on sales, so if the customers are late in paying due to credit terms, the businesses will have to pay the tax first.

4. Procurement 

Customers usually react to news of discounts or price increases. The general perception is that Goods & Services Tax (GST) will result in a price hike on certain goods. Experiences in other countries such as Australia, Singapore and Thailand have shown that customers generally go on a shopping spree shortly before the introduction of the tax, followed by a period of relative inactivity after the tax is introduced. If your business directly deals with consumers, it may be necessary to do some stock planning to cater for a pre-GST rush.

If you are planning to invest in business assets such as plant and machinery which may have embedded sales tax in them, it may be worthwhile to purchase such items after GST is implemented. This is because buying the same goods after GST would allow businesses to claim as input tax for GST whereas under the current regime the embedded sales tax is not deductible or creditable. However, this requires some assumption that prices will otherwise remain static.

5. To register or not

For some business that fall below the registration threshold, on the surface it may appear a good thing that the business is not subject to the compliance burden of the tax. However, unless the business is licensed, it would not be entitled to claim the input tax credits on purchases.

This leads to input tax paid being a cost to the business and this cost may be passed on to the consumer in terms of higher prices. However, in a situation where the customers of the business are other GST registered businesses, the supplier may be obligated to license itself as it is likely that the customer would insist on buying from another registered person to enable him to claim the input tax credit.

HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS GET READY FOR
MALAYSIAN GOODS & SERVICES TAX (GST)

In order to be have a smoother transition into GST, businesses should start getting ready now. Here are 6 ways we can help you:

1. Provide training to your company in order to understand the key elements of Malaysian sGoods & Services Tax (GST).
   
   
2. Analyze your company’s transactions to understand the implications of Malaysian Goods & Services Tax (GST) on your business activities and how GST will affect your bottom line, working capital, supply chain, long –term contracts and new investments.
   
   
3. Provide practical solutions on how you can effectively overcome implementation, compliance and enforcement issues.
   
   
4. Work with accounting systems vendors on the changes needed to capture data required for Malaysian Goods & Services Tax (GST) filing.
   
   
5. Advise on treatment of transitional issues upon implementation of Malaysian Goods & Services Tax (GST).
   
   
6. Identify schemes/reliefs (if applicable) to your industry.

Our address and contact info:

No.32 & 34, Lorong Thambi 2,
off Jalan Brunei, 55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: +603-9078 2868 / +6019 - 368 6868

Fax: +603-2141 0957/+603-2141 7468

Email: contact@yycadvisors.com