Thursday 21 December 2017

Bitcoin and GST in Malaysia – Cryptic Times Ahead?

Dave Ananth is a senior lawyer, a former Magistrate and advocate in Malaysia before taking up a position with the Inland Revenue Department in New Zealand as a Prosecutor. He now practises as a Tax Barrister, based in Auckland. He is an expert on Malaysian GST and a familiar speaker on the local Malaysian circuit. He also writes extensively on GST in Malaysia and other taxation issues in New Zealand.  He is a consultant for Wolters Kluwer on Malaysian GST. He can be reached at davetaxnz@gmail.com. 


Cryptocurrency, a form of digital currency is the new ‘digital money’ of the millennium. It is cash that you cannot see nor touch as it is not tangible. However, it is in the internet, mostly stored in a digital wallet and is being traded in many countries. Cryptocurrency is created by ‘miners’ using high powered computers using massive amounts of electricity.

If you have not heard about this digital currency, then you are lagging behind. It is the buzz word today with everyone jumping onto the bandwagon, and some not knowing what they are getting into.

Punters predict it will change the financial landscape completely, sceptics, on the other hand, believe it would not last, akin to the Dutch Tulip Mania in the 16th century. Tulip mania was the first recorded financial bubble. Tulips became fashionable and there was a mad rush to purchase tulips – causing their prices to increase to monumental levels which after a period, dramatically collapsed. Many are cautious – with one of them being Richard Harris, who wrote a damning article equating bitcoins to speculative derivatives and why it could trigger the next global financial crash.

Some countries have banned this form of currency while others have gone ahead to recognise it, amending the law and regulations to suit. 

My intention in this article is not to advise potential investors. I do not have a crystal ball for that. Instead, this article discuss GST options for the Government to consider in giving life to Bitcoin, which is the best-known cryptocurrency. 

Tuesday 19 December 2017

The Law on Bonus Payments

Author: Donovan Cheah (Partner) with assistance from Natalie Ng (Intern) (Donovan & Ho)

As the year comes to an end, many companies are starting to offer bonuses to reward employees for achieving specific goals, or for overall good performance. However, bonuses are normally described as “discretionary”, which is understood to mean that the employer has a right to determine whether or not to grant a bonus that particular year, or how much bonus should be given.



The recent case of All Malayan Estates Staff Union v Revertex (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd gives an interesting perspective as to how a Company should exercise its discretion in granting bonus.

Wednesday 13 December 2017

How to prevent misconduct at the workplace Christmas party

Author: Paul O’Halloran, a partner in the employment and safety team at Colin Biggers & Paisley

In brief — employers should consider risk of and take steps to avoid being held vicariously liable
End of year workplace social functions will soon be upon us. It is now well established that such occasions, even if held outside standard work hours and away from work premises, are sufficiently “connected” to the workplace such that any unlawful behaviour — for example, bullying, fighting or sexual harassment — engaged in by employees at those functions can be the subject of a workplace complaint or litigation.

Wednesday 22 November 2017

Secret Recordings: Are they admissible?

Authors: Donovan Cheah (Partner) and Denise Choo (Intern) (Donovan & Ho)
 The advent of technology has seen a plethora of recordings, ranging from your run of the mill song recordings to more insidious uses of the ability to covertly record conversations. When employer-employee disputes arise, it is always tempting to record any conversations that may occur.
We are regularly asked by clients whether they should “secretly” record conversations with the other party as a “safeguard”. Ethics aside, are these recordings even admissible as evidence in the Industrial Court?

Monday 13 November 2017

Unfair Dismissal in Malaysia – Is there a need for reform?

Author: Donovan Cheah (Partner, Donovan & Ho)
The article was first published in the March/April 2017 edition of MGCC Perspectives, a publication of the Malaysian German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

 “The Company has decided to terminate your employment. Pursuant to your employment contract, you are given 1 month’s notice of termination.”


There is no shortage of such brief and curt termination letters in Malaysia. No reasons are provided, and employers commonly believe that compliance with the notice clause is the extent of their legal obligations when it comes to terminating employees.

Tuesday 7 November 2017

Refusing a Performance Improvement Plan

Author: Donovan Cheah (Partner) (Donovan & Ho)
Employers who are facing difficulties with poor performing employees may opt to place them on a performance improvement plan (or “PIP”). The PIP is an exercise, taking place over a number of weeks or months, and is usually meant to achieve the following objectives:
          • Making the employee aware of their shortcomings
          • Structuring an action plan to allow them to improve their performance, and
          • Giving them clear and measurable goals to achieve.
In the best outcome, the employee understands where they have been underperforming and uses the PIP as an opportunity to rectify their performance to a suitable standard. In the worst case, the employee fails to measure up despite the PIP and is terminated.
Employees who are subject to a PIP understandably don’t view this as a benevolent gesture by their employer. It is very human response to disagree with allegations that one is underperforming. There are cases where an employee refuses to participate in a PIP, alleging that the employer is biased, vindictive or otherwise telling lies about the employee’s performance.
Can an employee refuse to participate in a performance improvement plan?

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Top 3 Reasons to attend the Wolters Kluwer Malaysian Budget Conference 2018

Let’s face it, budgets come and budgets go. Before a Budget, experts will speculate on what’s going to be announced. On the day itself, there’ll be running commentary on each item announced, whether through traditional media or social media. Post-Budget, the in-depth analysis starts streaming in.

However, at the end of the day, companies have to go beyond just finding out what’s been announced. They have to consider current trends, existing laws and how everything interrelates. Whatever’s announced in Budget 2018 must be put into context.


And that’s where the Wolters Kluwer Malaysian Budget Conference 2018 comes in. Just like the Budget itself, our conference is an annual affair, yet it’s anything but routine. There are plenty of other conferences going on out there, but let me tell you the Top 3 Reasons why you should come to OURS:

1. Extensive coverage: Our conference contains sessions that cover every important topic currently hotly discussed amongst tax professionals. From the broader perspective view of the current economic outlook and Budget 2018 highlights, right down to in-depth discussion of tax and GST audit processes. We look at the latest tax audit trends as well as the ongoing developments of international tax compliance matters.

2. All-inclusive: We get together the best minds from professional practice, the corporate industry AND the academic profession industry to discuss the topics mentioned above. Our priority is to ensure you get quality, substantive discussions from a variety of perspectives and expert viewpoints.

3. Practical and forward-looking: Our conference is focused on practical knowledge, whether it’s finding opportunities, learning how to minimise risk and making every Ringgit count. Look out for tips and tricks as our speakers impart useful guidance on handling the various critical issues that pop up in the tax world.

Just to give you one example, we all know that the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRB) are constantly looking for ways to boost the government coffers. Naturally, a key approach is to clamp down on non-compliance. As such, tax audits are expected to gain momentum even as we speak.
Fortunately, we’ve made the effort to get the authorities on our side to help us out. Joining us from the IRB in an exclusive session will be Pn Koh Sai Tian, the head of the Large Taxpayers Branch. Together with Soh Lian Seng of KPMG, we expect her to give us valuable insights into how the IRB will go about their audits and their direction. This is one session you cannot afford to miss!

We could go on and on, but if you have never attended this annual event before, you should start now. Get in touch with us now, our Annual Wolters Kluwer Malaysian Budget Conference is an event we are always proud to bring to you, as it is an experience to remember. We hope to catch up with you at this year’s edition!

See you there!

Monday 23 October 2017

Thoughts for taxing the digital economy

Dave Namasivayam Ananth is a senior lawyer, a former Magistrate and advocate in Malaysia before taking up a position with the Inland Revenue Department in New Zealand as a Prosecutor. He now practises as a Tax Barrister, based in Auckland. He is an expert on Malaysian GST and a familiar speaker on the local Malaysian circuit, spending considerable time in Malaysia with a consulting firm working on GST. He also writes extensively on GST in Malaysia. He can be reached at davetaxnz@gmail.com.


There has been a lot of hype about the digital economy recently.  The Director General (DG) of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) clearly stated on 18 September 2017 that the GST Act 2014 will be amended to capture the GST impact on the digital economy. In New Zealand, this tax, sometimes also called the “Netflix tax”, came into force 1 October 2016. This tax is paid by the consumers of the product and not by the company.

I note the changing nature of doing business – the standard way will eventually give way to the digital economy. Tax collection year-on-year is declining, and that is likely to do with this new e-commerce way of doing business and the permanent establishment requirement. Therefore, we must recognise that GST on digital services is yet another example of digital transformation. It is here to stay and will get more complex as the style of doing business evolves to the next level.  
GST has always been intended as a broad-based tax on the consumer which is intended to cover the vast majority of transactions[1]. Virtual goods are increasingly commonplace (eg, Netflix, Uber, Alibaba, etc.) so they should not be exempt. It should be noted that these companies providing goods did not come up with some cunning tax plan to avoid charging it; they were just operating within the way the rules worked until the recent law change[2]. No one would have thought the rules of the game will change this soon. However, the GST committee, when introducing the first draft of the GST Bill in Parliament in 2009, should have considered the fact that e-commerce was already in place and downloading of software was a common occurrence at that time. Even if that was too early, the drafters could have included it in 2014 when the Bill became law. We have been living in the digital age for some time and the government needs to catch up with times.

Should the government choose to tax digital services, these are some points to be considered:

Monday 9 October 2017

Talk before you punish, RMCD

Dave Namasivayam Ananth is a senior lawyer, a former Magistrate and advocate in Malaysia before taking up a position with the Inland Revenue Department in New Zealand as a Prosecutor. He now practises as a Tax Barrister, based in Auckland. He is an expert on Malaysian GST, an author and a familiar speaker on the local Malaysian circuit. He writes extensively in Malaysia and New Zealand on taxation. He can be reached at davetaxnz@gmail.com.




The Malaysian Reserve recently published an article on 25 September 2017 highlighting that MLM businesses that do not comply with GST law will be blacklisted and banned from travelling overseas. Dave Ananth muses over the effectiveness of blacklisting errant taxpayers to protect GST collection.


Blacklisting is not the answer unless all avenues have been exhausted. In any tax or revenue system, you will have recalcitrant taxpayers. Revenue laws in Malaysia, just like in New Zealand, have adequate laws to punish and even incarcerate them. However, that approach is changing across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

Tuesday 3 October 2017

If an employee is pregnant or on parental leave, can they still be made redundant?

Author: Lisa Qiu (Lawyer & Registered Migration Agent, Coleman Greig Lawyers)

Recently, the Federal Circuit Court (in Australia - ed) found energy company, BOC, had unlawfully terminated the employment of a pregnant employee when they made her position redundant, two days before she was due to start parental leave.


Caroline Power was to start parental leave on 6 November, 2015, but was made redundant on 4 November, 2015. Ms Power wasn’t the only BOC employee to be made redundant but all other affected employees were made redundant on 12 November, 2015. Although Ms Power’s redundancy was a genuine redundancy, the fact that her termination date was brought forward from 12 November (when she would have been on parental leave) to 4 November, meant that the decision to make her position redundant on the earlier date, was due to the fact that she was pregnant and about to commence parental leave, and was therefore tainted as “adverse action” as it was partly based on illegitimate grounds.

Thursday 28 September 2017

Can employers give bad references?

Authors: Donovan Cheah (Partner) and Adryenne Lim (Legal Executive) (Donovan & Ho)
Academic qualifications and work experience are just one part of the deal in the hiring process. The other part involves interpersonal skills, personality traits and work ethics, all of which are qualities that employers have no way of knowing other than through the recommendations of other people and/or based on the employer’s own assessment during interviews with prospective employees. In this regard, references bear considerable weight in the hiring decisions of employers: a bad reference may in some instances cause someone a job opportunity.

Given that the potential damage that may flow from a bad reference that was prepared out of bad faith or without due care, these questions are worth considering:

          • To what extent can an employer provide a bad reference?
          • Can an employer be held liable for damages due to a bad reference given?


Tuesday 19 September 2017

5 Most Misunderstood Terms in an Employment Contract

Author: Donovan Cheah (Partner) (Donovan & Ho)

Whether you are an employee or an employer, it’s important to have a basic understanding about the terms of an employment contract, and what they really mean. In our practice, we have come across many situations where an employment contract is signed, locked away in a filing cabinet, and completely forgotten about until a problem arises. It is only then when parties realise that they did not fully understand their contractual obligations.

This article will highlight some of the commonly misunderstood terms in an employment contract.


Wednesday 13 September 2017

Misconduct Out of Office Hours: Is There a Fine Line?

Author: Amirul Izzat Hasri (Associate in the dispute resolution practice group at Donovan & Ho)
Article was provided by: Donovan Cheah (Partner, Donovan & Ho)
Can disciplinary action be taken against an employee who does something inappropriate outside office hours and outside of the company premises?


The law entails that employers can hold an employee accountable for his conduct if they can successfully establish a sufficient nexus between the employee’s off duty conduct and its impact on the business and image of the employer.

The common law position was highlighted in the case of The Post Office v Liddiard [2001] EWCA Civ 940, whereby the employee’s involvement in football hooliganism during the World Cup had brought bad publicity towards his employer. The Court found that the employee’s dismissal was valid as his conduct had brought his employer into disrepute. An employer can therefore justify a dismissal if they can prove that the employee’s conduct had tarnished, or had a considerable prospect of damaging the employer’s business image.


Tuesday 5 September 2017

Maternity Leave & Redundancy — Know Your Rights

Author: Rachel Waters is a barrister who commenced her legal career in Employment Law

Australia has come a long way in providing a more equal playing field for women in the workplace. At one stage in the 1960’s, women who worked for the Commonwealth Government who married were forced to resign. Further, it was not until the 1970’s that anti-discrimination laws and parental leave laws began to address the fact that women suffered negative consequences in the workplace as a consequence of the bearing of children. However, Australia still has a long way to go in ensuring women are able to participate equally with men in the workplace in relation to status, responsibility and remuneration.

Parental leave laws are paramount in enabling women and same-sex parents to have children without major detriment to their short and long term careers. In addition, they serve to indirectly and partially address the ongoing gap in pay between men and women.

Wednesday 23 August 2017

Thailand to create long-term retirement visa

By: Stephen Frost, Bangkok International Associates

Bangkok International Associates is a general corporate and commercial law firm

Thailand has for a long time had a retirement visa available. It is shortly to launch a long-term retirement visa, possibly to come into effect in August 2017, hoping to attract more foreign retirees to the country. In this article, we examine the existing law, the new proposals, and comment on them.

The existing retirement visa: The existing retirement visa concept is relatively simple in its requirements, as follows:

Tuesday 15 August 2017

Whatsapp Messages: Admissible in Court?

Author: Donovan Cheah (Partner, Donovan & Ho)
Whatsapp is a text messaging application that is used by more than 1 billion users in more than 180 countries. Its use has become so prevalent that it has become a primary mode of communication for many individuals. Many parties now use Whatsapp even for business purposes, such as communicating with clients, sending documents or even negotiating contracts.

As lawyers, one of the questions we get asked frequently is whether Whatsapp messages can be adduced as evidence in court.

Thursday 10 August 2017

Recovery of Expenses: Disbursement vs Reimbursement

This article was written by Ivy Ling Yieng Ping of Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill.


1. It is common for a GST-registered business to incur expenses while making a supply of goods or services to clients. Generally, these expenses will be recovered subsequently from the clients. However, the commercial contract between the parties, more often than not, is silent on how the recovery of expenses should be treated for the purposes of GST.

2. This may create confusion, resulting in the recovery of expenses being given the wrong GST treatment (either GST is wrongfully charged or no GST has been charged when it should be) and ultimately resulting in the filing of an incorrect GST return.

Tuesday 1 August 2017

Real Estate Transactions - GST Inclusive or Exclusive

This article was written by Ashley Lee Si Han of Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill. 


The goods and services tax (“GST”) has been with us since 1 April 2015 and we have seen its impact on various parts of our lives. In theory, it is a relatively straightforward tax regime that can nevertheless prove difficult in practice, especially in relation to GST on real estate transactions.

Since the introduction of GST in Malaysia, the parties to any real estate transactions have inevitably dealt with the insertion of GST clauses in their contracts. Judging from the precedents of GST disputes under real estate transactions in various Commonwealth jurisdictions, it is important to exercise vigilance in relation to all transaction documents by ensuring that you have the right GST clauses which reflect your intention. If you are relying on a standard “one size fits all” GST clause for all real estate transactions, it might contain several loopholes, which can be a costly mistake in the event of a dispute, given the significant financial impact of GST.

Tuesday 11 July 2017

Sales Tax Refund

This article was written by Jason Tan Jia Xin of Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill


When the goods and services tax (GST) was first introduced to replace the general sales tax and service tax regimes in 2015, the overarching concern for businesses was the implementation and administrative aspect. As companies scrambled to understand the rules and procedures in order to facilitate the rollout of GST, many, if not all, would have neglected or overlooked the fact that this transition would trigger a double collection of taxes for goods still held as stock across both tax regimes.

The general sales tax was payable upon manufacturing or importation of the goods. Consequently, all stock still held by businesses in Malaysia as of the cut-off date (1 April 2015) would have been subject to sales tax. Provided that such stock was not part of the zero-rated or exempt supplies, they would also be subject to GST. This is a classic instance of double taxation.

Tuesday 4 July 2017

Unfriending = unlawful?

Authors: Stephen Booth (Principal) and Lisa Qiu (Lawyer & Registered Migration Agent) (Coleman Greig Lawyers)

Sometimes it’s difficult to ignore a friend request from a work colleague. Once you’ve accepted, should you block or unfriend? A recent decision handed down by the Fair Work Commission may cause you to rethink your next move.

In only the second official stop bullying order handed down by the Fair Work Commission since the introduction of new anti bullying laws in 2013, the Commission has held that unfriending someone on Facebook was “belittling” and “aggressive” and constituted unreasonable behaviour that warranted a stop bullying order.

Ms Roberts, the applicant, was a real estate agent and had been working with VIEW Launceston, a real estate franchise in Tasmania, for approximately two years (strangely enough, the first official stop bullying order handed down by the Commission also concerned events which took place in a real estate agency). Mrs Bird, the alleged bully, was a Sales Administrator and the wife of Mr Bird, the Principal and Co-Director of VIEW.

Ms Roberts was able to prove unreasonable conduct on the part of Mrs Bird, including Mrs Bird:
          • Belittling Ms Roberts when she told her she wasn’t allowed to sign for parcels
          • deliberating delaying the processing of administrative tasks for Ms Roberts
          • deliberately attempting to damage the relationship between Ms Roberts and a client
          • acknowledging others in the morning and delivering photocopying and printing to them, but not to Ms Roberts.

Thursday 29 June 2017

Similar Means, Different Goals to Achieve Same End: Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing

This article was written by Jason Tan Jia Xin.


The enforcements of customs valuation and transfer pricing are the epitome of similar means and different goals to achieve the same end. The means of valuation and pricing are similar in the form of the valuation and pricing methodologies. However, the goals are at two ends of the spectrum: the former wants the highest appraised value of imports; the other, the lowest possible level to maximise taxable profits. Such paradoxical treatments are largely unregulated, not less due to regulators themselves being beneficiaries of the ultimate end in the form of higher revenue collection.

In recent years, Australian importers on the receiving end of such discrepancies have successfully pressured the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) to reform what most countries (including Malaysia) refuse to rectify: inconsistency in favour of uniformity. This article analyses the paradoxical treatments despite their similarities from a Malaysian perspective, as well as the rectifications made by the ATO.

Monday 19 June 2017

Drug and Alcohol Abuse at the Workplace

Authors: Donovan Cheah (Partner) and Adryenne Lim (Legal Executive) (Donovan & Ho)

What are some of the issues that could arise when there is alcohol/drug use at the workplace?
Drug or alcohol abuse in the workplace may result in:
          • mistakes, accidents and injuries
          • damage to workplace equipment
          • absenteeism
          • a decrease in productivity
          • reputational damage
What are some of the relevant laws?
The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (“OSHA”) requires employers to ensure, as far as practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of all their employees. OSHA does not expressly state that employers must develop and implement policies relating to alcohol and drug related problems. However, it is arguable that the obligation to ensure employees’ safety and health is wide enough to cover such issues. This interpretation would be in line with the guideline issued by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Human Resources (“Guideline”) relating to drug and alcohol problems in the workplace.
Depending on the circumstances, employers may also be vicariously liable for torts (eg: negligence) committed by impaired employees in the course of their employment, even if the impairment was caused by alcohol and/or drug use.
There are also other laws relating to the use of dangerous drugs, but they are not the subject matter of this article which relate to employers’ obligations.

Can employers impose a mandatory alcohol/drug test on employees?

Tuesday 6 June 2017

Workplace bullying — what are my obligations?

Author: Brian Nathan (Duncan Cotterill)
Employer and employee obligations
Under the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSW), a person conducting a business or undertaking (a PCBU) must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, while at work. This includes protecting workers from harmful behaviour while at work such as bullying.
An employer’s failure to deal with issues in the workplace could lead to legal liability, including prosecution under the HSW, or more commonly, a personal grievance claim brought by affected employees.
Employees should also be aware that they can be individually liable under both health and safety legislation and human rights legislation if they have bullied others in the workplace.


What is bullying?

Monday 29 May 2017

Cultivating Good GST Compliance Culture via CBOS 3.0

This article was written by S Saravana Kumar and Annie Thomas.

This article was first published in Tax Guardian (Vol 10/No 2/2017/Q2), the official journal of the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia.


When we ordinarily refer to compliance in goods and services tax (“GST”), what strikes our minds is the filing of GST returns and settling the GST due within the stipulated taxable period. It has been more than two years now since the implementation of GST in Malaysia. The compliance rate for GST filing thus far has been high, with an average rating of above 95%.[1] However, when it comes to the settlement of GST dues, the compliance rate is not as high as the GST filing rate. It has been reported that about one-third of the companies audited by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (“RMC”) submitted incorrect returns by omitting information, understating output tax or overstating input tax.[2] This kind of non-compliance undermines the government’s revenue, distorts competition as it gives the non-compliant business an advantage in the form of cash flow and compromises equity as this may encourage further non-compliance in other aspects of GST. This article[3] aims to highlight the other aspects of compliance requirement under the GST Act 2014 and the sanctions that the RMC may impose in such circumstances.



Monday 22 May 2017

Workplace Sexual Harassment: Are Laws Really The Savior?

Author: Sakshi Seth (Associate, PSA Legal Counsellors)

Background

With more and more women joining workforce, ensuring an enabling working environment for women that is safe and secure has become a key concern, not only for their employers but also for the government. This is essential given the rise of sexual harassment at work incidents being reported. 

The landmark judgment of Vishakha and Ors v. State of Rajasthan1, lead to the enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“Act”), mandating every employer to provide a mechanism to redress grievances pertaining to workplace sexual harassment and enforce the right to gender equality of working women. The recent case, where a former employee of Uber wrote in her blog about the experiences of sexual harassment and gender bias during her year-long employment has, once again, brought the inadequacy of sexual harassment mechanism in place to the forefront.

This bulletin analyses the legal framework on workplace sexual harassment, practical issues in implementation and the recent developments therein.

Thursday 18 May 2017

Maternity Benefits in India


Authors: Rudra Srivastava and Ritika Modee (Singhania & Partners)

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is social security legislation and was enacted “to regulate employment of women in certain establishments for certain period before and after child birth to provide for maternity benefit and certain other benefit”.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (hereafter “Act”) received the much awaited Presidential assent on 27th March, 2017 and was published in the Official Gazette of India on 28th March, 2017. The Central Government in exercise of powers conferred upon it under Section 1(2) of the Act has appointed 1st April 2017 as the date on which all the provisions of the Act shall become effective except for Section 5(5) which provides for “work from home” in certain cases which shall be effective from 1st day of July 2017. 1



Wednesday 3 May 2017

Powers of the Customs investigator

 By Aaron Bromley, Dave Ananth

Source: https://nevadasmallbusiness.com/wp-content/
uploads/2015/06/How-to-Survive-a-Tax-Audit.jpg
The powers of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (“RMCD”) to enforce the GST legislation are specifically provided for in Part X of the GST Act 2014 (“GSTA” or “the Act”). This article explores the enforcement powers of RMCD in investigating GST offences. It is acknowledged that Customs officers also have powers under the Customs Act 1967 and Excise Act 1976, but these are not within the purview of this article.

GST offences are complex in nature. Tax agents and legal advisors dealing with this relatively new regime in Malaysia need to fully understand the potential offences and the implications. Unlike the powers of the police, the extent to which RMCD can investigate potential offences and enforce the law is not as well-published in the local media, though we expect this will change in the near future. Sometimes, there is a perception that GST offences do not carry any period of incarceration or that Customs officers do not have adequate powers under the GSTA. Such a perception is clearly misplaced.

Pursuant to the GSTA, RMCD has a wide range of powers to enforce the law. There are offences which require mens rea and also strict liability offences. Non-payment of GST amounts and other offences can result in incarceration.  The Revenue Prosecutor in New Zealand calls it, “theft of government money”. We expect a similar approach in Malaysia.

Tuesday 2 May 2017

Need HELP in your human resource efforts?

Human resources (HR) is a field that continues to change as technologies continue to advance. If you're in HR, you would have surely noticed how your role is becoming more and more important in today's world, evolving and expanding beyond typical standard processes, with the acquisition and use of vital knowledge that influences your company's decision-making.

Wolters Kluwer is very aware of the challenges HR face in today's global world, which is why we have poured a lot of energy over the years into the product we know as HELP.



























If you haven't heard of Wolters Kluwer's HELP yet, don't worry, it's not too late. HELP is what we call our regional resource known as Asia Pacific Employment Law Asia, covering 14 of the major economies in the Asia Pacific. Updated regularly for your benefit, the highlights of this regional resource include:

One month extension for SST returns and payment of tax

The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) has announced a one month extension (until 31 July 2021) for the submission of SST-02 forms an...