Kota Kinabalu: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) hoped the Government through the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (LHDN) will be more considerate with taxpayers, especially those genuinely ignorant of the tax regime.
Its President Tan Sri T.C Goh said there should be a more lenient approach to first understand the actual reasons behind taxpayers’ failure to file for income tax returns, and to educate them on our tax regime, rather than taking harsh action.
Goh, who is also President of The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), was speaking at a seminar on “Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) 2.0”, jointly organised by FCAS and LHDN, at Putera Theatre Auditorium in Bukit Padang, Friday.
Also present were LHDN Malaysia Deputy Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abu Tariq Bin Jamaluddin and Sabah Director Datuk Hajam Lajah Alam, FCAS Vice Presidents David Chan and Johnny Ng.
SPONSORED CONTENT K.T.I. achieves RM140 million sales Kota Kinabalu: K.T.I. Sdn Bhd’s The Logg, Luyang has launched Easy Care, its brand-new hospitality initiative, which aims to elevate the living experience by providing an all–in-one care to its residents at Shorea n Astoria. Read more Goh noted LHDN had earlier assured that taxpayers who voluntarily come forward to report their undeclared or under-declared taxes during the duration of the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) 2.0, from June 6 till May 31, 2024, will not be compounded. The period declared under the programme will not be audited unless there is an element of fraud.
“It’s important for taxpayers to fully grasp the detailed guidelines under the programme,” he said.
The SVDP was introduced on Nov 3, 2018 for 11 months. It comes with an offer of 10pc to 15pc remission on penalties (maximum remission allowed under the Income Tax Act 1967 is 300pc).
He recalled that in 2021 where the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Malaysia received a complaint that despite having participated in the SVPD programme, taxpayers were audited for undeclared tax.
This resulted in the Government being accused of using the SVPD as a tool to go after those who failed to declare or under-declare their tax.
“Even the then Finance Minister described the Government’s ‘U-turn’ on its own policy, as being unfair to participants of the programme.
“I hope regardless of who’s in power, the Government should through the LHDN sincerely implement the SVPD 2.0 and to honour its assurance of not auditing those taxpayers who meet the criteria of the programme,” he said.
Goh said the SVPD programme is a worthy approach to help boost the Government’s revenue collection, citing that a vast majority of taxpayers and businesses are law-abiding citizens, except that some of them, especially the newcomers, lacked the experience when comes to filing income tax returns.
“We fully support the Government’s initiative of allowing taxpayers to better understand our tax regime through this SVDP.
“At the same time, we hope the Government will be more lenient and considerate when dealing with individual or corporate taxpayers who come forward to declare their income voluntarily, during the duration of this programme.
“We also hope individual and corporate taxpayers could seize the opportunity under this programme,” he said.
* Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss.
* Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.