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Companies are appealing to the newly formed Government for deductions on their 2020/2021 assessment tax and to defer their audits to allow financial savings and workload to be focused on curbing the spread of Covid-19 instead.
Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Samenta) south chairman Louis Ooi said as companies had spent significant amounts of money to adhere to standard operating procedures, reducing their financial burden would motivate them to keep it up.
“We hope there will be budgeting for tax deduction for the 2020/2021 assessment for companies to save up.
“It is costly to provide personal protective equipment, Covid-19 test kits, hand sanitiser, disinfectants and face masks for daily operations amid the pandemic which has affected businesses.
“Auditing agencies such as the Inland Revenue Board, Customs Department, and other agencies may postpone their auditing operations to next year or after the pandemic as it will reduce our burden to prepare for it,” he said.
Ooi also proposed that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) be reintroduced to replace the existing Sales and Services Tax (SST) at 6% rate.
“GST 2.0 with a lower tax rate of 3% will be more suitable in the current economic situation.
“The main objective of all these cost-cutting proposals is to ensure that SMEs continue to operate and to reduce the unemployment rate,” he said.
Ooi added that with the new Government based on the ‘Malaysia Family’ concept, he hoped that political and racial differences would be put aside in the battle against Covid-19.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2021/09/03/call-to-reduce-burden-of-smes