KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has put in place stringent measures to minimise leakages in the refund process of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and prevent companies from submitting fraudulent claims.
Customs Department’s central zone internal tax division operations director Datuk Ahmad Maher Abd Jalil said one of the measures implemented was to pay a visit to any company submitting a claim to ensure that the company really exists.
“Secondly, for claims that involve millions of ringgit, the company will be audited first before the claim is processed,” he told reporters after appearing as a guest on the “Ruang Bicara” talk show produced by Bernama News Channel yesterday.
He said most traders involved in these fraudulent claims were those registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia.
“These traders will submit fraudulent statements to the Customs Department to obtain the refund of GST.
“We will track down the owners of these companies and their masterminds behind this fraudulent activity,” he said, adding that the department was now more careful in processing the GST tax refund to traders.
In the meantime, he said the main focus of the Customs Department this year was to eradicate the smuggling of cigarettes and liquor.
He said the stiffer penalty for those involved in smuggling and selling contraband cigarettes was to create awareness for them not to engage in such activities. – Bernama
