LHDN Will Be Conducting A Full-Scale Audit On Professionals Who Dodge The Income Tax
The agency also addressed some challenges that it has been facing in hitting this year's target.
By John Lim — 30 Aug 2017, 01:29 PM
The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) will be hot on heels of professionals who have yet to declare their income
LHDN chief executive officer Datuk Sabih Samitah said based on risk analysis, third-party information, and Bank Negara's analysis, some in the professional group have never declared their income.
"I would like to advise these professionals to come forward now and make a voluntary declaration (of their income)," he said as quoted by Malaysiakini.
A full-scale income tax operation on professionals, including lawyers, engineers, and architects, would probably kick off in September or October
Sabin added that LHDN's target was to collect RM127.7 billion in taxes this year, but it has so far collected RM75.7 billion - partly due to several restrictions.
"Another restriction is in the petroleum tax collection. It is estimated that IRB will get RM8 billion from petroleum tax, but we only managed to get RM3 billion so far, and this is a challenge for us," he said.
Sabin added that the operation will not be targeting politicians, since most of them, including the ones from the opposition, had declared their income
He asserted that the agency had never practised selective or politically-motivated investigations.
"There is no political interference. Any investigation or audit on any individual or firm is based on a detailed risk analysis by the LHDN."
Sabin also touched on Ops Saji, a two-week operation targeting tax dodgers in the F&B industry
He added that the operation, which concluded on 25 August, was conducted to check whether traders have registered as tax payers.
"They don’t have to worry if their business cost is high. That is allowed as expenses, so they have nothing to pay," he told FMT.
The operation concentrated mainly on large restaurant chains and food processing companies.
