KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has alleged that the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government owes RM19.4 billion Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds to business establishment’s nationwide.
He said the monies in question was owed to the business establishments for the past two years.
The Finance Minister made the accusation in his speech at the second reading of the Service Tax Bill 2018 in the Dewan Rakyat, earlier today.
He alleged that the BN government did not follow GST guidelines and swindled the monies from the trust account from where the tax deduction was supposed to be refunded to business establishment.
Lim said the Royal Customs Department had confirmed that the total amount of input tax credit which was supposed to be refunded (to companies) within two weeks stood at RM19.4 billion as of May 31, this year.
“From this figure, RM9.2 billion (47 per cent) was from 2018, RM6.8 billion (35 per cent) from 2017, RM2.8 billion (15 per cent) from 2016, and RM0.6 billion (3 per cent) from 2015,” he said.
Lim also revealed that the trust account now only had funds amounting to RM1.486 million.
He said the failure to refund companies had led to a cascading effect, affecting the cash flow of business’, who in turn passed on their GST costs to consumers, who in turn were forced to pay more.
Lim assured that the government would repay the GST refund to the said companies and would seek the necessary funds to do so by next year.
“If the RM19.4 billion was given back to these companies, it will help in Malaysia’s economic growth, Lim said,
Meanwhile, Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) during his debate on the Service Tax Bill 2018 said the government needs to provide more details on its allegations.
This includes the detailed breakdown of the refunds, companies which failed to receive it, as well as whether proper documentation was in order for the refund.
Khairy said the allegations against the BN was quite serious but would nevertheless back the Pakatan Harapan government on the matter and would also throw in his support for the Public Accounts Committee to probe into the allegations.