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Prepaid users in Malaysia will have to fork out more next week as 6% service tax will be imposed on all reloads as well as new SIM starter packs. This ruling which comes effective on 15th September 2011 was officially announced today. What this means, you would need to pay RM10.60 for a RM10 reload or RM53 for a RM50 reload card.

According to the report, the regulation is not something new as the Service Tax Act 1975 require all telcos to impose tax on all services including prepaid. It was mentioned that all telcos have been absorbing it for its customers since day 1. All telcos will be sending SMS notification to all subscribers on this latest development tomorrow onward.

The obvious impact is that you would need to come out with extra change to pay for top ups. While it is unlikely that we see a major drop of prepaid subscribers, there’s a likelihood that telcos would spark a small price war over this small increase. The very least, telcos will take the opportunity to give rebates to compensate the additional cost.

When credit cards were imposed with RM50 annual tax fee, we’ve seen how banks find creative ways to maintain customer loyalty. Some of them offer RM50 tax waiver which was cleverly disguised as cash rebates or incentives if they perform a minimum spend or balance transfer.

For our telcos, giving free call minutes and SMS is already a norm and that’s something they might practice extensively in this time of increasing prepaid cost. In the end, prepaid subscribers are just looking for the best value and service from the telcos.

If tax is imposed during point of sale, we wonder if this might spark panic buying of reload cards before the 15th September 2011 dateline. Any thoughts from prepaid users? Drop them in the comments below.

Sumber dari Blog SoyaCincau

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BERKUAT kuasa hari ini, kadar cukai perkhidmatan bagi semua perkhidmatan yang dikenakan cukai, termasuk yuran langganan perkhidmatan televisyen berbayar, kecuali kad kredit serta kad caj, akan dinaikkan kepada enam peratus daripada lima peratus. 

Mengikut garis panduan dikeluarkan Bahagian Cukai Dalam Negeri, Ibu Pejabat Kastam Diraja Malaysia, ia selaras pengumuman dibuat Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak ketika pembentangan Bajet 2011 di Parlimen, Oktober lalu.
Namun, katanya, perkhidmatan penyiaran televisyen berbayar menggunakan protokol internet (IPTV) tidak dikenakan cukai perkhidmatan.
Mengikut garis panduan itu, walaupun kadar baru itu berkuat kuasa hari ini, pengguna perkhidmatan yang membuat bayaran awal sepenuhnya atau sebahagian daripadanya sebelum 1 Januari masih dikenakan cukai pada kadar lima peratus.

Ia juga menjelaskan, bagi baucar dibeli atau diperoleh sebelum 1 Januari, jika cukai perkhidmatan lima peratus dikenakan terhadap bayaran pelanggan, penyedia perkhidmatan tidak boleh mengenakan tambahan caj satu peratus, walaupun ia ditebus selepas 1 Januari.

Berkuat kuasa hari ini juga, cukai perkhidmatan pada kadar enam peratus akan dikenakan ke atas polisi insurans yang dikeluarkan kepada pertubuhan perniagaan.

Sementara itu, Ketua Eksekutif Astro, Datuk Rohana Rozhan, berkata pihaknya tidak akan menyerap cukai perkhidmatan enam peratus yang akan dikenakan terhadap pelanggan kerana ia adalah cukai yang diperkenalkan oleh kerajaan untuk pengguna di Malaysia.
Katanya, pihaknya juga yakin pengenalan cukai perkhidmatan itu tidak akan menjejaskan sambutan pengguna terhadap perkhidmatan disediakan.

Dipetik dari Berita Harian