KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): Malaysia will continue to improve its Goods and Services Tax (GST), which aims to diversify the government's revenue source to ensure the nation's sustainable economic growth.
 
The Finance Ministry said in its 2017/2018 Economic Report that the GST, which was implemented since April 1, 2015 at 6%, is one of the fiscal reform initiatives to further enhance the efficiency of the tax system and widen the tax base.

The ministry said "the government will continuously engage with various stakeholders to further improve the GST system and ensure compliance".

To increase the GST's compliance, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department regularly audits and investigates tax-related matters.

According to the ministry, the department had identified 14,578 tax-evasion offences between April 2015 and July 2017.

In 2016, GST collection amounted to RM41.2 billion, the ministry said.