KUCHING: Retail players are asking for a grace period for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bto be implemented in order for businesses to learn and adjust with the new tax system.
‘The only request I have is that the Customs, who are administrating this tax, understand that if there are mistakes made by the implementers or by the businesses, a grace period would be given for people to adjust to the rules and learn how things should be done,” said Plaza Merdeka Management Sdn Bhd and Plaza Merdeka Holdings Sdn Bhd’s managing director Dato Steve Ng to The Borneo Post.
He highlighted that despite the numerous courses and seminars that have been done for the past year, there are still some things that were unclear or have not been explained properly to the implementers and parties that are involved in implementing the tax.
In terms of how GST would affect the retail market, Ng noted that initially, the tax might have an impact on retailers as consumers would naturally be apprehensive to the new tax.
However, he pointed out that this situation should normalise eventually.
“I believe, people will get used to it. GST would naturally be part of the landscape,” he opined.
All in, Ng viewed the implementation of GST as a “good tax” for the country. “GST is something like a consumption tax. Consumers are given the choice to pay what tax they want.
“We hope that if the government receives excess revenue from the GST, they would drop our income tax so that they could help more middle income class in choosing what they want pay tax for,” he added.