80,000 yet to pay tax – IRB
KOTA KINABALU: The Inland Revenue Board has identified 80,000 taxpayers in the country who have failed to carry out their responsibility, including politicians.
The Inland Revenue Board chief executive officer Datuk Seri Sabin Samitah said they included individuals with excesive wealth.
He said these individuals had been served with a notice under Section 79 of the Income Tax act 1967.
“They are rich beyond their means...they have not declared their income fully,” he explained.
He said the individuals could check if their names were part of the list by coming to the IRB’s office.
He added that presently, there were no other ways for them to check the list, including using online methods.
Meanwhile, a total of 140 taxpayers have made voluntary declaration of their income at the Inland Revenue Board between Nov 3 and Dec 20, this year.
He said that an estimated RM8.1 million in additional taxes and penalties were involved.
He also said that 87 cases were recorded in Kota Kinabalu involving RM7.1 million.
He encouraged individuals and firms with issues with the board to take advantage of the voluntary admission offer by the board which started since Nov 3 and would end in June 30, 2019.
He said that the penalty involved during the offer period was between 10 percent and 15 percent.
The offer will end in June 30, 2019 and starting July 1, 2019, the board will be charging penalties between 80 percent and 300 percent.
He also announced that Sabah tax collection right up to Nov, this year was RM3.666 billion, a hike of about 1.53 percent from the same period last year.
At the same time, he also disclosed that 1,841 taxpayers in Sabah were disallowed from travelling abroad for flouting Section 104 of the Income Tax Act 1967. The amount involved is RM130.2 million.
Last year, a total of 3,544 were disallowed from travelling outside of Sabah, while in 2016, 3,831 individuals were barred from going out of Sabah.
Sabin was here to witness the handing over of duties by the present Sabah Inland Revenue Board director Suhaili Sudin to Datuk Hajam Lajah Alam who will report for duty on Jan 1, 2019.