Proposal for New Tax for International Air Travellers from Malaysia
2 min readProposal for New Tax for International Air Travellers from Malaysia
Remember the new Malaysian Tourism Tax on Hotels? The good news is it will start from 1st September 2017 and Malaysians are not required to pay the taxes. However, there could be a new tax for International air travellers from Malaysia. It is the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Amendment) Bill 2017 which was tabled earlier in Dewan Rakyat which will allows The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) to charge RM 1 on all International passengers from Malaysia next year including Malaysians.
According to reports from TheMalaysianReserve.com, the government will not fund any Mavcom’s activities from next year so the RM 1 fee would be used to ensure continued effective operations of the commission.
Under the bill, Mavcom can also impose a maximum financial penalty of RM1 million against an individual for failure to observe its guidelines.
‘Any company that fails to follow the guidelines will be fined a maximum of 5% of its annual turnover from the preceding financial year.
Besides enhancing the effectiveness of Mavcom in exercising its functions, the bill will also ensure sufficient financial resources for protecting the rights and interests of consumers and aviation development.
Under the bill, the commission can administer, allocate and manage air traffic rights for both domestic and international routes.
Mavcom will also be empowered to regulate unfair and arbitrary fees and charges imposed by the aviation service providers, Ab Aziz said.
The commission may set a maximum of RM200,000 fine for a first-timer who imposes arbitrary fees and charges.
“For a repeat violation, one is liable to an amount of 10 times the penalty imposed on the first-timer,” he added.
Mavcom will also be given the power to issue guidelines, circulars, directives and practice notes.
The amendment is meant to facilitate the implementation of good practice in a shorter timeframe.
Mavcom is an independent body set up on March 1, 2016, to regulate economic and commercial matters relating to civil aviation.
According to Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) some 43.2 million international passengers passed through MAHB airports in Malaysia in 2016, representing an 8% increase from 2015.’ – https://themalaysianreserve.com/2017/08/10/international-air-travellers-pay-rm1-fund-mavcom/
We met many people when we travel Internationally and most of them either visited Malaysia decades ago or transiting in Malaysia. This applies to most of our ASEAN friends who often transit in Malaysia due to competitive airfares provided by our budget airlines like AirAsia.
With this new ruling, each traveller who transits in Malaysia will required to pay RM 1. To be fair, RM1 is not a lot and it is around US$ 20 cents. This applies Malaysians and foreigners flying out of the country.
There are no official words on the implementation of Malaysian Aviation Commission (Amendment) Bill 2017 yet. We just have to wait and see.
