Cukai Makmur doesn’t hinder SME Bank from sustaining devt of entrepreneurs
JOHOR BAHRU: Cukai Makmur (prosperty tax) announced in Budget 2022 is not an issue and does not prevent SME Bank from continuing to support the development of entrepreneurs next year.
Group chief corporate strategy officer Mohammad Hardee Ibrahim said the tax collection would not affect the bank’s revenue.
“It doesn’t hinder us. For us, Cukai Makmur is for profitability on a certain threshold. In our case, we weren’t worried.
“In fact, even if we have to pay the tax ... as a bank owned by the government, we do pay dividends to the government as well.
“So, that is not an issue or constraint for us to continue to support entrepreneurs,” he told a press conference after the Southern Region Jom XCESS SME Bank programme yesterday.
Present was Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar.
Mohammad Hardee was asked whether Cukai Makmur collection for the year of assessment 2022 would affect the bank’s revenue, as well as its ability to offer more financing in the future.
Under Budget 2022, the government proposed a one-off Cukai Makmur on companies that make more than RM100 million in profit for the year of assessment 2022.
First, chargeable income up to the first RM100 million is taxed at 24 per cent, and second, the remaining chargeable income is taxed at 33 per cent, for the year of assessment 2022 only, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz when tabling the budget on Oct 29.
Since its establishment, SME Bank has approved financing worth RM38 billion to 20,543 people involved in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).—