It looks like you can finally get your outstanding tax refunds as soon as this year!
In a recent report by Free Malaysia Today, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that the former government did not refund RM16.046 billion in excess income and real property gains taxes as of end-May 2018.
These outstanding tax refunds reportedly involve 1,653,786 cases of companies, individuals, societies, and foundations.
Source: Malay Mail
A majority of the cases (38% of the RM16.046 billion) have been outstanding for between two and three years, with RM5.212 billion owed to companies and RM913 million owed to individuals, societies, and foundations.
Meanwhile, the second largest percentage (29% of the RM16.046 billion) has been outstanding for the past 6 years, with RM3.090 billion due to companies, while RM1.503 billion is due to individuals, societies, and foundations.
The Finance Minister explained this large sum of outstanding tax refunds, saying,
‘Tax refunds can only be made using the balance in the Tax Refunds Trust Fund (TRTF). As of May 31, the balance in the TRTF was only RM1.486 billion based on the records from the Accountant General’s Department, which is far lower than the RM16.046 billion required for the refunds that need to be made.”
“In other words, there exists a shortfall of RM14.56 billion as of May 31, which resulted in 1,653,786 taxpayers not receiving their tax refunds as far back as more than six years ago.”
Source: Sinar Harian
Because of this, Lim Guan Eng stated that the RM14.56 billion that wasn’t transferred to the TRTF had already been classified as government revenue by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
“This means that the federal government revenue that was reported by the previous government is not accurate and larger than what it actually was,” he continued.
In light of this issue, the Finance Minister stated that the current Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has just agreed to allow taxpayers with outstanding tax refunds from LHDN to offset the amount against the tax payable for the current year.
Source: The Star
According to the Malay Mail, those with outstanding tax refunds need to submit offset applications to LHDN to obtain verification and approval. Lim Guan Eng assured Malaysians that their tax refunds would be returned, saying,
“We hope that the failure to return RM16.046 billion of tax refunds is the last mega exposé related to the misappropriation and misuse of taxpayers’ money by the previous government.”
“The new Pakatan Harapan government which upholds the principles of Competency, Accountability, and Transparency (CAT) will do its utmost best to resolve such scandals, including through returning the tax refunds.”
So, be sure to file your applications to LHDN as soon as possible!
Also read: SST to Be Reintroduced at 10% and Service Tax at 6% Starting September 1
