Malaysia hotel tax regime begins
Malaysia has begun implementing its much changed tourism tax for hotel stays but not all hotels are ready.
Only about half of the 10,000 hotels around the country have begun collecting the tax from guests, which started on September 1.
"Not all hotel operators are ready. We will do it manually until the system is ready," said Malaysian Association of Hotels president Sam Cheah Swee Hee.
Malaysian officials said they would be taking a ‘friendly’ approach to hoteliers not ready to remit the tax.
"We will not be harsh as the announcement of the tax came a little late," said Customs and Excise director-general, Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy.
"We are giving hotel operators another month. We expect all to register with us by the end of September."
Hotels need to spend about RM5,000 to update the accounting system, according to the Malaysian Association of Hotels.
After much debate and protests, the government delayed and then changed the tax policy, exempting all Malaysian nationals and set a fixed nightly rate of RM10 instead of a sliding scale based on star ratings.
It was originally due to roll out in August.
Hoteliers are required to display the tax rate separately from the room rates.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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