Even managing your money is going to cost more money.
The Ministry of Finance announced through its Facebook account that once the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is rolled out in April, ATM transactions and banking services will also be applicable to the new tax of 6%.
For ATM transactions, the GST will only apply to the RM1 MEPS fee you’re hit with every time you withdraw money from an ATM not belonging to your own bank. Withdrawals from your own bank’s ATMs will not be charged with the GST.
That means for every withdrawal from another bank’s ATM, the GST of 6% will be charged to MEPS fee, not the amount being withdrawn. So you’ll need to pay an extra RM0.06 per withdrawal.
If you withdraw, say, RM100, you’ll still get RM100 in cash. The extra 6 sen will be deducted from your account along with the RM1 MEPS fee.
Other banking services that will have the GST applied to them are telegraphic transfers, and recurring or periodic remittances. The GST will apply to the commission charged by the bank, not the sum of money being transferred.
The same principle applies to moneychanging, loans, cheques and credit cards – the money being moved around does not incur any GST, but the service charges from the banks themselves will have the GST tacked onto them.
(Sidenote: is it just us, or does the Bahasa Malaysia word “fi”, standing in for the English “fee”, seem ridiculous? It’s ridiculous, right?)
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