‘IRB HAS INFO ON OVERSEAS ACCOUNTS’
455,732 bank accounts of Malaysians in 57 countries identified, says IRB chief
AWHOPPING 455,732 overseas bank accounts belonging to Malaysians have been identified by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) as of last month.
IRB chief executive officer Datuk Seri Sabin Samitah who disclosed this yesterday said the accounts were located in 57 countries.
“The countries include Singapore, India, Hong Kong and Australia. We have received the information from various tax authorities abroad.
“IRB, however, has yet to get the complete details of these accounts, including their total value,” he said at IRB’s 23rd Revenue Day Celebration here.
Sabin said a number of the people with the accounts had worked abroad, but he was not sure of the status of the others.
He said some of the account holders had voluntarily declared their income to the IRB and urged those who had yet to do so to file it under the IRB’s Special Programme for Voluntary Disclosure.
Earlier, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng urged Malaysians with undeclared income in overseas bank accounts to take up the special programme which imposed 10 per cent and 15 per cent penalty, rather than the usual 300 per cent penalty.
“This programme is also open to those with undeclared income in local bank accounts.
“Instead of facing the 45 per cent penalty, they will only get 10 per cent and 15 per cent penalty.”
It was reported that the IRB had introduced the Special Programme for Voluntary Disclosure for taxpayers who have yet to declare their income generated from sources within Malaysia, and kept it in overseas bank accounts.
The government has agreed to reduce the penalty if the income is declared by March 31 (from 300 per cent to 10 per cent) and June 30 (15 per cent).
The IRB started receiving information on the ownership of overseas bank accounts from September last year under the Automatic Exchange of information with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The tax authority has sent out letters and e-mails, targeting taxpayers with overseas bank accounts who have failed to file their tax returns as required.
Lim said up to Feb 21, more than 203,000 voluntary income disclosures were recorded by the IRB with additional taxes and penalties estimated at RM1.306 billion.
“This is a positive indicator towards reaching the target tax collection for 2019,” he said.