Information Technology Sophistication and Goods and Services Tax in Malaysia

The study is intended to highlightthe contribution of IT sophistication in the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), as well as to explore government or tax authority strategies in strengthening IT sophistication for GST implementation, primarily to the business community. This study used a combination of information obtained from an interview with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) and information available from diverse sources.GST or value added tax (VAT) has been implemented by 162 countries in the world including latest list, Malaysia. Generally, while GST concept seems similar which is indirect tax revenue to the country, the implementation is significantly different between countries.Therefore, recognising the importance of IT or computer-based system is capable to smooth the GST implementation, which is something needs to be highlighted by Malaysia for future reference to prospective GST/VAT countries.A lot of effort is made by the Malaysian government or the RMCD in order to strengthen IT sophistication of businesses (registered person). These include rules and regulations, budget provision and financial assistance, computerized system development, and vendor participation. Thus, this paper is hoped contributes to the literature by providing information on the Malaysian government or the RMCD strategies in strengthening the IT sophistication of businesses, finally smoothing GST implementation, which is believed to be reported infrequently in international literature.