KUALA LUMPUR: Some 2,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will take part in a Goods and Services Tax (GST) forum that is aimed at resolving issues prior to the implementation of the new tax.

MCA’s SME bureau chief Datuk Ei Kim Hock said the forum would be a good platform for the business operators to better understand the GST, which comes into force on April 1.

The forum will be held at Wisma MCA here on March 18.

“Participants will get the opportunity to gather better information on the GST at the forum while resolving issues that they may be facing prior to its implementation,” Ei said at a press conference yesterday.

He said he expected the forum’s question-and-answer session to be lively because this was where the participants could raise any issues on the GST that might affect them.

Among the issues that could crop up was the crackdown on some 42,000 SMEs that failed to register their businesses for the GST before the March 1 deadline and were now subject to a hefty RM15,000 fine, he said.

“I hope the participants will bring up this issue so that the authorities can reconsider the punitive action,” he said, adding that there should be some leniency over the hefty fine or that the action be deferred pending the subsequent registration of the businesses.

He noted that the Customs Department had initially set a target of 160,000 businesses to be GST-compliant but more than 340,000 enterprises had registered voluntarily.

This showed a high level of compliance while the failure of businesses to register could be due to a lack of ability and know-how on the registration process, he said.

Federation of Malaysia Clans and Guilds Youth Association’s chairman Datuk Seri Dr King Lim Chin Fui said the forum was timely.

He also noted that senior officials from the Customs Department would be on hand to answer questions raised by the participants.

Among the speakers at the forum would be Great Vision Business Advisory Services Sdn Bhd director Datuk Chua Tia Guan, Secretariat for the Advancement of Malaysian Enterprises chief executive officer Neil Foo Seck Chyn and Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Chua Tee Yong.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong will be officiating.

The one-day forum will be conducted in Mandarin. For more information, call 03-2203 3935, 03-2203 3934, 03-2161 5621 or 03-9221 9122. To register online for the forum, go tohttp://goo.gl/forms/IrGl3Pgjb1.

-The Star-