Tuesday 18 April 2017

The Tourism Tax Bill and Airbnb

The recent passing of the Tourism Tax Bill was met with much concern from various tourism industry players and netizens. Essentially the tourism tax bill imposes a tax that is levied on tourists staying at any accommodation made available by an operator.

Hamzah Rahmat, the president of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) was concerned with the impact on local tourism and hoped the government could provide more details. Mr Cheah Swee Hee, the president of the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH), argued that the tourism tax would create an uneven playing field, driving local and foreign tourists to accomodations such as those offered through Airbnb and unlicensed hotels, which aren’t regulated by the law. And of course, netizens cried foul over the expected increase in prices.

While unlicensed hotels are effectively illegal and should be shut down anyway, Airbnb services are a different kettle of fish.

Tuesday 11 April 2017

GST Update - Challenging the Royal Malaysian Customs on Director General of Customs' Decisions

This article is reproduced with permission, from the March 2017 Client Alert of Wong & Partners, member firm of Baker & McKenzie International.


Introduction

The Goods and Services Tax Act ("GST Act") 2014 came into force on 1 April 2015. Since its implementation almost 2 years ago, issues that surfaced in the early stages still remain with respect to the enforcement by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department ("Customs"), resulting in significant challenges for a number of taxpayers to comply with the GST requirements.

While Customs has made some effort to address some of the issues faced by taxpayers, the number of cases litigated on GST issues continues to rise.

Many of these issues pertain to differing interpretations of the GST Act, the role of guidelines ("Guidelines") and Director General's ("DG") Decisions issued by Customs, in aiding the interpretation of the law. Many aspects and details relating to the GST regime are not provided for expressly under the GST Act or subsidiary legislation, but are instead found in these various Guidelines and DG's Decisions. Are they absolute? Can they be challenged?

Wong & Partners have successfully represented clients before the GST Tribunal on this issue, and drawing from the Firm's experience, this client alert will focus on the viability of challenging the DG's Decisions.

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...