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PETALING JAYA: Car insurance is set to go up by 6% as insurance providers fall under the Goods and Services tax (GST) come April 1.
“Insurance will go up. But don’t listen to rumours that road tax will go up too. It will not,” said GST director Datuk Subromaniam Tholasy said yesterday.
However, those renewing their road tax at the post office will pay GST on the post office’s RM2 commission, which amounts to 12 sen.
Customs deputy director Tan Sim Kiat urged Malaysians not to fall for “marketing schemes” which sensationalised the GST.
“If your insurance premium is RM500, then 6% is RM30. Calculate the costs first – don’t get excited and rush out to buy things,” he said.
On another matter, Subromaniam also reminded residents that neighbourhood security would fall under the tax system although condominium maintenance fees are GST-exempt.
Security companies providing services to residential areas will fall under the GST, and accordingly, fees could go up by 6%.
If the guards are hired by the residents’ association, neighbourhoods may escape the 6% hike if the RA does not pull in more than RM500,000 a year, which is the threshold amount for GST registration.
“But if they make RM500,000 or more, then the residents’ association will have to register and charge residents accordingly for neighbourhood guard services,” Subromaniam said.
“But condominiums’ joint management bodies and management corporations are exempted, as is strata title.”
Meanwhile, Bernama quoted Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Seri Hasan Malek as saying that five special GST courts had been set up to handle cases against traders under the Price Control and Anti Profiteering Act.
He said consumers must monitor the prices of goods to avoid being cheated.
If there are traders who impose GST on goods which are tax exempt, the public should report the matter to the authorities, he said.
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