GST is coming – Dummies guide to registering for doctors
While pure healthcare services e.g. doctors consultation are supposed to be GST exempt, it seems in their way of interpreting things, the Customs of Malaysia are quite adamant that while healthcare delivered by a doctor who works in his clinic is GST exempt, the same doctor who provides healthcare services in a private hospital is NOT GST exempt. The reason is Customs is adamant that the specialist is performing an “outsourced” service for the hospital. The hospital is then imposed a GST charge for this service. The patient will not be charged GST directly but you can bet the hospital will try to find a way to recuperate the cost by other means (hospital charges are currently not regulated by any law unlike the PHFSA which regulates doctors’ professional fees).
The APHM has already warned GST may increase private healthcare costs by 5%
So it means that doctors who work in private hospitals have to register for GST as they will be in effect collecting GST from the hospitals on behalf of Customs. Some may want their accountants to help with the registration process but others may choose to “do it yourself” online.
Note that the dateline for registering is 31 December 2014.
Our doctors’ forum Dobbs, has an on-going thread on GST and in the latest posting has a “Dummies Guide” on how to register for GST.
If you are a member of Dobbs, you can click on the link or image below to view the thread:
Please note that Dobbs forums discussions are available only to logged in Dobbs members. Membership is FREE for all Malaysian doctors and done in two easy steps
1) Register at http://dobbs.my/daftar
– automatic signup and activation link will be sent via email
2) After activating, do LOGIN and VERIFY as a doctor here:
http://dobbs.my/verify