By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, April 4: Current and new taxpayers who had previously missed out or underreported their income tax can make amends without facing any penalty through the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) special voluntary disclosure programme.
IRB chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Nizom Sairi said the programme which will commence from June 1, 2023 until May 31, 2024 would allow taxpayers to voluntarily declare their income tax and face zero per cent penalty.
“The programme provides an opportunity for any taxpayer who missed out on reporting their income or underreported it, or whether there is an error and so on, to come voluntarily within this one year period and report taxes for recent years.
“The IRB will accept what is reported and the years in which they report voluntarily will not be audited again. We will consider the tax declarations as finalised or closed,” he told reporters during the Sarawak Media Appreciation 2023 ceremony held at Pullman Hotel here today.
Those who wishes to declare their income tax voluntarily can contact or come forward to any IRB branch offices.
Asked whether the programme applies to those who “main kutu” (informal funding and saving scheme for quick cash), Nizom explained that it depends on whether such funds were done for profit.
A ‘kutu’ fund refers to a context where a group of people pool their money together and uses this to fund their own individual needs.
“The traditional ‘kutu’ (where no one makes profit), if they only play by turns, that is not subject to tax.
“However, the ‘kutu’ nowadays where one makes profit out of it, it is considered an income, so they need to pay tax,” he added. — DayakDaily
