Petty traders to pay RM48 licence fee

THE Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) is expecting to collect RM340,000 in licence fees from petty traders this year now that the exemption from paying the annual sum has been lifted.

The exemption from paying fees was introduced by the Selangor government in 2016.

The lifting of the exemption is expected to affect 8,000 petty traders in the municipality.

MPAJ president Dr Ani Ahmad said the RM48 fee would apply to traders who had renewed their licence as well as those who had yet to do so.

“This will involve stall owners as well as bazaar and night market traders, among others,” she said after chairing the council’s full board meeting.

Ani also estimated that targeted assessment tax exemptions for village properties would involve 3,745 out of 8,630 units in Ampang Jaya.

“MPAJ has issued the assessment bills to owners,” she said.

“Applications for exemptions can be made until May 31.”

The main conditions, for exemption, are that the property’s built-up area is not more than 2,000sq ft, the applicant must be a Malaysian citizen residing in Selangor and the monthly combined household income is less than RM5,000.

Property owners are allowed to apply for only one account or one house.

Assessment tax exemption for 42,951 low-cost houses would continue as per the state government’s directive, Ani said.

The state’s move to waive assessment fees for low-cost houses resulted in MPAJ sustaining an almost RM10mil loss from its annual revenue.

The exemption was introduced in 2016.

On another matter, Ani said that the council collected RM50,196 from temporary fireworks permits and temporary placement of traders in conjunction with the Chinese New Year festival.

Traders were allowed to set up stalls in 22 areas including Taman Bukit Indah, Taman Nirwana, Taman Mawar, Taman Seraya, Taman Muda and Taman Putra.