Love Flaunting Your Wealth? LHDN is Monitoring Social Media Influencers to Avoid Tax Evasion

Your social media is your call on what to share with the world. If you enjoy flaunting your wealth by showing off your bulks of cash, don’t say we didn’t remind you. LHDN is watching.

LHDN Tax Compliance Department director Abang Ehsan Abang Abu Bakar said the monitoring was conducted daily through all social media and e-commerce platforms. It’s not against the law to show off your luxury lifestyle but LHDN is keeping tabs on all social media influencers to make sure they do their due diligence – pay the taxes.

The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) has also identified social media influencers who flaunt their cash and wealth online and ensure they fulfill their tax obligations.

A specialised unit, the Digital Economy Audit Section (SAED) comes into play when it involves daily monitoring through social media platforms, reported Sinar Harian.

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Abang Ehsan explained that the compliance activities carried out are based on the appropriate level of risk assessment based on various sources including public complaints.

“Influencers selected for the compliance review must submit evidence related to their business activities to the IRB during the compliance review.”

He said the action aims to influence the behavior of social media influencers in making decisions to comply with taxation laws.

Additionally, LHDN also held an engagement session with influencers and it was carried out in a relaxed manner thus being able to spread the message of taxation widely to social media influencers and then to their followers on social media.  Checks are always carried out to ensure that the income and taxes that should be reported calculated and paid are in accordance with taxation laws and regulations.

Hopefully, this will serve as a reminder to all social media influencers out there to do what’s necessary!

Also read: “LHDN knows everything, don’t run” – M’sian Urges YouTubers & TikTokers to Pay Their Taxes