PUTRAJAYA: The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which kicked off a year ago, is gradually gaining acceptance after the earlier resistance by traders and consumers.

While there were initial hiccups and confusion in its implementation, more businesses have come forward to register for GST.

To date, there are 408,000 businesses registered for GST, which is much higher than the expected 240,000.

The Royal Malaysian Customs Department said it was satisfied with the implementation of the GST.

Despite facing challenges, the department said the implementation process was now smooth, with the traders’ compliance level in ­filing their GST return statements standing at over 95%.

“This is a good sign and we hope this trend will continue. This is something positive for us in terms of implementation.

“If you compare it with the Sales and Services Tax (SST), some were reluctant to submit their statements,” said Customs director-­general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad at a press conference yesterday.

While Khazali gave the department a pat on the back for its achievements, he was also ready to admit there were some teething problems, which he believes can be resolved.

“Overall, if you ask me on a scale of 1 to 10, I will say we are at 8.5 to 9 in terms of GST implementation.”

Khazali said one of the main challenges faced by the department in the initial stages was traders who did not understand the system properly..

“There were also some traders who made mistakes in their return statements,” he said.

Khazali also admitted that the department faced difficulties in fulfilling the payment charter within 14 days after a claim was made as it had to look into many matters before making a decision for a refund.

“We have managed to tackle this problem and as of now, 70% of the claims are refunded within 14 days,” said Khazali.-thestar