KOTA KINABALU: All businesses that have sales turnover of RM500,000 or more are reminded to register for GST (Goods Services Tax) before 31st December 2014 while businesses with revenue less than RM500,000 will have voluntary option for registration.
This will ensure that they are prepared when the GST is implemented on April 1, 2015, MYOB South Asia, Product ‘Guru’ Jimmy Chew said when met at a briefing on the MYOB GST accounting software talk organised by the KKCCCI here yesterday.
Chew pointed out that business owners should register for the GST as there is not much time left.
“They should start now because there is not much time left. You need to get yourself registered before Dec 31 if your sales turnover is more than RM500,000 annually. You also need to collect all the data needed so that come April 1 2015, you are ready.
“MYOB has listed down a timeline of what they need to do and they can follow it, as it will guide them through and tell them which are the items and areas that they need to do more research in,” Chew said when asked for his advice to the business community in Sabah.
According to him, the reason the Government set it at June 1 2014 as the start of registration for GST is because it is forecasting a lot of companies will be registering for GST based on the benefits that they will be getting.
This will also enable them to set off against the input tax which is actually a cost to them at the moment as well as the output tax that they have. Once implemented, Malaysia will be a very competitive country to do business in, he stressed.
“My advice to companies which are earning more than RM500,000 a year is to get yourself ready, be prepared for it and get yourself registered as there will be a RM1,000 grant given to you, make use of it and get yourself prepared.
“You have tools that are available in the market, one of them is MYOB software where you can track all your GST reporting, GST tax paid and all your stationary will be prepared within the system. At the same time it will also enable you to track all the stocks that you have currently that you can actually claim.
“So when March 31 2015 comes, all you have to do is open up your software and you will know how much you need to claim back etc,” he said.
Chew said that MYOB is a registered software with the Royal Malaysia Customs Department and is one of the 55 companies offering the service which are registered with the department.
“Since the Customs Department has approved it, it basically means that all the needed reporting is in the MYOB software and you can be accurate all the time as accuracy is very important and filing on time is very important.
“We have been selling this software for about 15 years in Malaysia. It is very user friendly and has been used even by people who are illiterate or have a poor command of English,” he added.