By DANNY YAP KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs to reduce income tax if the government wants to reintroduce the goods and services tax (GST), according to Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA) president Datuk Nordin Baharuddin.

He said if GST was implemented income tax should be reduced because GST would burden consumers,” he told reporters at the MICPA Bursa Malaysia business forum on Monday.

Asked if Malaysia was prepared for GST, Nordin said: “MICPA has been preparing for it for sometime but the timing of the GST implementation was not “suitable” for the government.”

GST was introduced in Budget 2005 as an indirect tax on consumer for goods and services.

Commonly known as value-added tax, GST was supposed to come on stream in January 2007, but the government postponed the implementation of GST to a date to be announced.

On the possibility of GST implementation in Budget 2008, Nordin said: “We have no confirmation that it would be implemented soon.”

However, Nordin said MICPA hoped for a reduction in the tax rate for individuals and companies in Budget 2008.

“There was talks of a reduction in tax for individuals but we don’t know by how much,” he said.

On his expectations in Budget 2008, Nordin said the new budget should provide incentives for the agriculture industry, particularly in areas like biotechnology and the manufacturing and services industries.

On the recent of listed companies that were suspected of fraud, he said it was important for corporations to keep good record of transactions.