Government assures no return to GST
The government has no plans to bring back the Goods and Services Tax (GST) said, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan.
“At present, it is deemed inappropriate to reintroduce it, especially considering the financial challenges faced by individuals with lower incomes.
“Therefore, the government will focus on enhancing the current tax system and introducing taxes that do not burden vulnerable populations, before considering the necessity of implementing new consumption taxes such as the goods and services tax,” he said, in response to an additional question from Datuk Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah (PN-Langkawi).
Suhaimi had asked whether the government intends to reintroduce GST.
In response to an additional question from Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BN-Tampin), Amir Hamzah stated that the government has no plans to extend the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) 2.0, which ran from June 6 last year to May 31 this year.
“So far, the government does not intend to extend the SVDP 2.0 programme beyond the set period. This timeframe is deemed sufficient to allow taxpayers to report their income or tax liabilities related to sales or service transactions from previous periods.
“Despite not extending SVDP 2.0, both the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and the Customs Department have devised strategies to enhance tax compliance.
“The SVDP 2.0 under the IRB allowed both new and existing taxpayers to voluntarily report income, asset disposals and the stamping of documents or agreements that have been completed according to specified conditions, while under the Customs Department, it included voluntary disclosures for taxes above the liable amount under sales tax, service tax, GST and tourism tax, subject to specific conditions, Amir Hamzah said.
Amir Hamzah reported that during the period from June 6 to May 31, the IRB approved 141,406 voluntary disclosure applications. These included 102,572 individual taxpayer cases, 27,707 company cases, and various other categories such as organisations.
“The amount involves a tax assessment of RM1.29 billion. The amount was found to have exceeded the initial target set of RM1 billion. From the total assessment, as much as RM512.6 million has been successfully collected.”
He said that the Customs Department received a total of 1,542 voluntary disclosure applications from individual taxpayers and companies, with the total pledged taxes amounting to RM229 million.
“This amount also exceeded the target expected with 500 applications with a tax collection value of RM200 million.”
He said that the revenue collected from SVDP 2.0 and other tax revenues are directed into the consolidated fund.
“The fund is then used to finance national expenses approved by Parliament through the annual budget, including public development projects such as schools, universities, hospitals and roads among others,” Amir Hamzah said.
He said this in response to Isam’s initial question about the effectiveness of SVDP 2.0, as well as the participation numbers of companies and individuals and the proceeds collected for the public interest and welfare, he made this statement.