TAXMEN SET SIGHTS ON PROFESSIONALS
They should make voluntary disclosures before audit begins, says IRB boss
THE Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will soon go after professionals with tax arrears. Its chief executive officer, Datuk Sabin Samitah, said the nationwide audit, scheduled to start next month or in October, would include lawyers, engineers and architects.
“I hope those with tax issues will come to us now. They should make voluntary disclosures,” he said after the IRB 2017 Merdeka celebration yesterday.
He said those who would be audited were chosen based on risk analysis and third-party information from Bank Negara Malaysia and other enforcement agencies.
However, he declined to reveal the details of the professionals.
“I am bound by Section 138 of the Income Tax Act 1967 to not reveal any information on IRB cases. We safeguard taxpayers’ information. Even if your spouse comes to IRB seeking information about you, we will not release it.”
Sabin said IRB was now auditing food industry operators. Under Op Saji, 1,479 IRB officers would be conducting business census tours, tax audits and investigations.
Sabin said officers had visited 6,285 food outlets in its business census, conducted 1,443 audits and opened 101 tax investigation papers. They found that 20 per cent of food operators did not keep income tax records. For those with records, almost 10 per cent had failed to declare their taxes and nearly 15 per cent had incomplete records.
On IRB’s collection target of RM127.7 billion this year, Sabin said it had adopted a realistic approach.
He said the board faced challenges, including a lower collection from the corporate sector, as corporate income tax had been reduced to 24 per cent from 25 per cent for resident and nonresident companies.
He said IRB also had to take into account possible lower collection from the oil and gas industry. Despite a collection projection of RM8 billion, he said RM3 billion only had been collected from oil and gas companies. However, Sabin said he believed that the IRB would achieve its target.