Tax revenue to increase thanks to efforts by LHDN

SEPANG: The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) and the Finance Ministry is confident that this year's direct tax collection will reach RM142.646 billion despite external challenges such as falling oil prices and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April.
Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said the ministry is confident that this year's tax collection will surpass last year's amount of RM133.694 billion.
Ahmad Maslan said that the implementation of GST is expected to reduce income tax collection by as much as RM6.12 billion.
He added that the implementation of the minimum wage policy is expected to cause a decrease in corporate tax by almost RM2.4 billion and Bank Negara has estimated corporate operational cost to be affected by as much as RM10 billion.

"We are confident that this year's target will be achieved through collective efforts made by LHDN to establish effective and convenient methods for taxpayers to pay their taxes," he said.
Ahmad was speaking to reporters at the 19th Inland Revenue Celebrations held at Menara Hasil in Cyberjaya today. The event commemorates the 19th year since the agency was instituted as a statutory body.
A new credit and debit card tax payment service by LHDN in partnership with Maybank was also launched at today's event.
The partnership is the first of its kind by the banking institution, with charges an administration fee of 0.8% compared to the market rate of 1.8% offered to credit card users.
Ahmad Maslan said this payment alternative is expected to increase the number of online payments to 25% compared to 13.12% (987,655) from 7.53 million transactions recorded in 2014.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Maslan said a Memorandum of Understanding between the Customs Department and LHDN was formalised earlier to exchange information on registered taxpayers.
"For example, from information gathered we discovered that 50,000 companies whom have registered with LHDN have yet to register for GST.
A total of 325,279 companies have registered for GST which is set to be implemented on April 1 and is estimated to rake in RM23.2 billion revenue for the federal government.