An online petition directed at Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) President Greg Seow to make it mandatory for GST to be paid on agents fees has now attracted 300 signatures.
Launched 10 days ago by Jason Lim of Vestor Realty, the petition was born from growing frustration among an increasing number of Singapore real estate agents who are being forced to absorb GST when their clients simply refuse to pay.
Lim told PropertyGuru: “My plan now is to raise more awareness with realtors who are already aware of the petition and to ask them to spread the word and reach more realtors.”
He added: “Some people doubt if this petition will change anything, but all I can say is if we do nothing, nothing will happen.”
Many agents have left their comments in support of the petition.
Jonathan Yap wrote: “We provide a professional service and we should be remunerated as such”, while JC Lee commented: “I not only meet this issue with landlords – even some developers don’t pay us GST.”
A spokesperson for CEA declined to add to their previous statement to PropertyGuru, in which Yeap Soon Teck, Deputy Director (Licensing) confirmed that the organisation has previously received similar feedback, and is currently reviewing the standard forms to emphasise that if the estate agent is GST-registered then GST should be payable to the estate agent.
Source – PropGuru – 25 Jun 2013
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