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Hotel association to get members' feedback on GST – BorneoPost ... - Hotel in Sarawak Blog

<b>Hotel</b> association to get members&#39; feedback on GST – BorneoPost <b>...</b> - Hotel in Sarawak Blog


<b>Hotel</b> association to get members&#39; feedback on GST – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 10 May 2014 11:18 AM PDT

SIBU: Sarawak Central Region Hotel Association will get members' feedback on the best way to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Its chairman Johnny Wong Sie Lee said yesterday they would be calling for a committee meeting with the implementation of GST on their agenda during the coming AGM.

He clarified that the association could only advise as the implementation would be done by members themselves.

"GST for budget hotels may be different from that of the star hotels. Clients staying in budget hotels will grumble over the tariff increased," Wong told The Borneo Post.

GST will come into effect on April 1 next year.

He figured there were two ways in going about implementing the new tax system.

"One way which we are exploring is to charge the old rates by including the GST rate of six per cent.

"The other is to charge the old rates but add six per cent GST.

"But we need to hear from members on ways to carry this out to ensure a win-win situation. The association can't tell operators what to do.

"At the end of the day, this all depends on the operators themselves," he said, adding that they had advised their members in Sarikei, Kapit and Mukah.

He stressed that it was most important for them to implement GST properly.

On another front, Wong reminded those members yet to register with the Personal Data Protection Department to do so promptly.

He said this was because they would not be able to collect personal information when the authority imposed the requirement.

The Communication and Multimedia Ministry's recent statement stated that all quarters categorised as 'data users' under Personal Data Protection (Class of Data Users) Order must be registered with the department.

Categorised as 'data users' under the order were those in the communication, finance, banking, insurance, health, tourism and hospitality, transportation, education, direct selling, property and utility sector.

It also stated that the act of processing personal data in an unregistered commercial transaction was an offence under Section 16 of the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (Act 709), which carries a maximum fine of RM500,000 or imprisonment of three years, or both, if convicted.

Meanwhile, Wong called on the relevant authority to act on the mushrooming of the room-for-rent here.

He claimed such operators had badly affected the livelihood of their members.

"I am compelled to speak up as many of my members have voiced concern over their drastic drop in business," he asserted.

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