When Tax man comes calling it means that Government have no money to pay Civil service salaries

Malaysia -Feeling wronged by the taxman

PETALING JAYA: Taxpayer S.M. Tan* had a difficult time when he missed the deadline for tax filing last year by three days.

“A few months later, I was informed by IRB that I have to pay a fine of RM3,900 for late submission.

“I sent an appeal letter but there was no reply. And when I called the office several times, I was told the officer in charge was away,” claimed Tan, 48.

Nothing was heard of until last month, when Tan received a copy of a letter sent by IRB to his employer, asking the company to make several deductions for the fine.

Again, he tried reaching out to the IRB to find out if his appeal had been accepted but to no avail.

“When I went to the IRB to declare my taxes three weeks ago, I saw a red line below my e-filing submission that said I was barred from travelling overseas,” he said.

In another case, Cecilia Wong*, 42, received a letter from the IRB last year, addressed to her husband, stating that an outstanding amount of RM300 must be settled. (Her husband had died in 2008.)

When Wong called up the IRB, “the lady on the phone said if my husband had died, then I would have to pay up. Otherwise, I will be blacklisted and will not be able to travel overseas.”

Wong queried whether there had been a mistake as her husband was a retiree before he died.

However, she was told that the calculations were computer-generated.

“Why did they only raise this matter in 2016 and not way back when my husband filed his taxes to the IRB before retirement?

“They gave me a long list of calculations in the tax statement which I did not understand but the fact remained that they raised this claim eight years after he died,” she said.

Wong eventually settled the amount as she did not want the hassle of hiring a lawyer or an auditor to look through the tax statements.

As for V. Ramachandran*, he also had his share of headaches about five years ago when he filed his taxes manually.

He had paid the taxes due after statutory deductions via bank transfer one day before the April 30 deadline, and had put the bank slips with his tax documents and posted it to the IRB collection office in Putrajaya.

Several months later, he got a letter stating that he was late in submitting the tax returns and would therefore be fined.

“Apparently, the office in Putrajaya only received the returns on May 6. The IRB officer said they could accept delays up to May 3 but not later than that.

“I showed proof that the extra money was banked in within the deadline and that it was not my fault that the Putrajaya office received it late.

“They checked my previous records and found out I have never been late in submitting the returns in all my 20 years as a taxpayer,” he said.

Ramachandran was then asked to submit an appeal letter but was told he had to admit that he was late in submitting the returns.

“Naturally, I refused because I paid on time. I met their officers several times. While they were courteous and helpful, they also insisted I was wrong.

“The total fine came up to about RM5,000 but after I appealed, they reduced it to RM1,300,” he said.

* Names have been changed.