KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): More education and awareness are needed for some 100,000 companies that have yet to register for the goods and services tax (GST), despite it being imposed nine months ago, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department says today.

Customs director-general Datuk Seri Khazali Ahmad said an operation called “Ops Jejak GST 2016” would be held from January 17 onwards, involving 1,500 enforcement officers.

“This is the first large-scale operation launched this year where our goal is to educate, not punish,” Khazali said at the Customs headquarters in Putrajaya today.

“We are doing this so that our officers can advise and look into the companies' problems.

“It is possible that they have not registered before this because of they have not found time to do so, we want to know what their reasons are for not registering yet."

In addition to targeting companies that were still not registered, Customs would also check on employers who fail to comply with regulations, such as issuing complete invoices inclusive of GST.

“Customs will also investigate into GST-registered persons who fail to comply with Section 33 of the GST Act 2014.

“As of January 15, any registered persons found by the Customs officials to have failed to comply with the provisions mentioned above will be issued a compound immediately.”

Companies that generated revenue of RM500,000 annually but failed to comply with GST regulations would be compounded RM15,000.

GST is expected to earn Putrajaya RM39 billion this year, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his tabling of Budget 2016 last October.