Second tourist refund centre
Published on: Friday, October 28, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: The Customs Department here launched its second Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) counter at the departure hall of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) here on Thursday.Its Director Dato' Dr Janathan Kandok said the counter was set up to facilitate foreign tourists who bought goods charged with Goods and Services Tax (GST) and which they keep them in their hand luggage.He said the first TRS counter was set up last year to facilitate tourists who keep their goods with GST inside their checked-in luggage.
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"The main objective of setting up this second TRS is to ensure the department continues providing efficient and quality service to tourists when claiming for the GST refund at the counter and hope they would be repeat visitors to Sabah."The processing time for claiming the GST only takes between two and four minutes provided the foreign tourists furnish all that is required for the claims."The tourists must hand carry the goods and show them to our officers on duty at the counter together with their international passports, boarding passes, and most importantly the receipts of the purchases and fill up the GST Refund Form," he said.Dr Janathan said this at the handing over of the completion of the TRS counter from the Public Works Department (PWD) Sabah Project Team to Sabah Customs and Excise Department at the counter premises at the departure hall of KKIA on Thursday.
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The second TRS counter that cost RM203,443.60 was built over six months from April and completed on Oct 20 this year.Also present were Sabah Customs Deputy Director (GST Division), its Deputy Director for Customs Division Mohd Idris Shaharom Madrim Tasan (GST Division), Customs Department headquarters Deputy Director (Procurement Branch) Mohd Matar bin Musa, PWD Sabah Project Team Construction General Manager Jaunis Kamin, Malaysia Airline (MAS) Senior Executive,Commercial Abas Tuah and representatives of Malaysia Airport Berhad (MAB), among others.
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Since the first TRS counter was established at the third floor of KKIA near Jesselton Kopitiam, last year, Dr Janathan said the department had registered a total of 23,682 tourists who claimed for the GST refund comprising 2,839 tourists in 2015 and that the figure rose to 20,843 tourists this year."Majority of the tourists who claimed for the GST are from China, Korea, Japan, and Brunei Darussalam.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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