RM7.9b in GST and income tax refunds paid out, says minister
PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today announced that a total of RM7.9 billion in GST and income tax refunds have been paid out so far.
Lim told the Dewan Rakyat that the repayments were made after Putrajaya had received RM8 billion in special dividends from Petronas – part of the RM30 billion promised by the national oil company...
PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng today announced that a total of RM7.9 billion in GST and income tax refunds have been paid out so far.
Lim told the Dewan Rakyat that the repayments were made after Putrajaya had received RM8 billion in special dividends from Petronas – part of the RM30 billion promised by the national oil company.
"This special dividend is one-off, and is already being paid to the government on an instalment basis. The repayments to taxpayers also begun since January this year.
"For 2019, until Feb 28, a special dividend of RM8 billion has been received from Petronas, and RM7.9 billion has been paid back to GST and income taxpayers," Lim said during Question Time in response to Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak).
Of the total, RM3.9 billion was paid out for income tax refunds, while the remaining RM4 billion was used for GST refunds.
The income tax refunds, Lim said, were paid to 38,104 companies and 37,672 other non-company claimants.
As for GST repayments, he noted that the Customs Department had repaid the RM4 billion to 54,603 registrants.
Tajuddin later insisted that Lim had failed to answer his question on whether RM19.4 billion in GST arrears were "robbed," and had led to the delay in repayments, as the government had alleged.
In response, Lim repeatedly cited the RM4.2 billion owed to Petronas and its subsidiaries as evidence that Putrajaya was initially unable to pay out GST arrears.
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