Government to continue SST information delivery
KUCHING: Efforts to spread the message of how the reformed Salea and Services Tax (SST) works are still underway to ensure every Malaysian business owner is educated on the subject.
At a special SST briefing program yesterday, Deputy Secretary General of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Shakib Ahmad Shakir addressed a hall full of government officials from relevant authorities on how their collaboration and involvement is instrumental in delivering information on the SST.
“Major ministries and agencies such as the Ministry of Finance (MOF), Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer (KPDNHEP) and Royal Malaysian Customs (JKDM) have an important and significant role in managing the implementation of this SST.
“At the beginning of the SST im- plementation, it is evident that the exact cooperation between these agencies is needed to ensure that the implementation of the SST is in order.
“The main tasks that they should be carrying out in this regards is continuous information delivery on SST to various target groups, and continued monitoring and enforcement measures to ensure all involved parties are complying with the rules and regulations of the SST,” said Shakib.
On how best to deliver information on the SST, Shakib guided that the MoF and JKDM has already implemented a series of briefings in several states to clarify the relevant target groups for local authorities. Today’s briefing is one of the series organised by the MoF and JKDM.
“And for us the MCMC and the agencies under us, our responsibility lies on complementing the current SST implementation efforts by providing information support and the spread of information of the SST to various level through the country – from large corporations to small local SMEs.”
He advised local officials that in order to ensure the information of the SST is spread evenly through the state, the use of various communication and media platforms should be extensively utilised – from traditional forms of media such as TV and print to social media or video sharing platforms.
The thorough approach to information delivery is expected to help target a wide ranges of parties in different ages groups and backgrounds.
That being said, continued efforts in conducting face-to-face visits and roadshows should not be neglected as it is only through more personal approaches can the public truly understand the advantages and changes to occur with the SST implementation.
“This effort is crucial in order to build positive perceptions among the public regarding the implementation of this SST and thus enable it to be understood and accepted by the community,” he stressed.
At the same time, Shakib added that the MCMC and relevant departments also have a duty to hear out the ideas and views from their key communicators so that the tax and regulations may improve in the future based on direct feedback from business owners.