Cash reward for information on tax evaders

PETALING JAYA: Cash rewards will be given to individuals who provide information to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) on those who refuse to declare and pay their taxes.
Its public relations officer Masrun Maslim said the reward is an effort taken by the board to encourage tax evaders into paying their taxes or face an audit by them.
“We will reward those individuals who come to us with information on those who refrain from the obligation of tax declaration and payment.
“We are encouraging anyone who has any information on tax evaders to report directly to us,” he told theSun when contacted yesterday.
“How much reward they will receive depends on the amount and the accuracy of the information provided to us,” he added.
Masrun said the board will then analyse the information and do an audit on the reported individuals who refuse to pay their taxes, and if it is found to be true, the information providers will be rewarded.
On how many people have avoided declaring and paying their taxes annually, he said: “The board does not have an exact figure specifically, but we can confirm that there are quite a number still refusing to oblige and do their duty.”
He added that the use of the internet-based, e-Filing system provided by IRB has been encouraging, with over 1.255 million forms submitted to the board as of today, for the year ending April 30.
“This is more than what was submitted in the previous year, with a total of 1.2 million form submissions.
“We estimate that over 80% of the total tax declaration was done through the e-Filing system, while the rest was done manually,” he said.
Masrun added that the response from the general public on the e-Filing has been positive, explaining that many were encouraged by the ease-of-use of the system as payment of taxes can now be done automatically, through the internet.
“In fact, mistakes such as in calculation, which were always a problem previously, can now be avoided totally,” he said.
“It is also easy to access, and the public do not have to go through the burden of coming over to IRB to pay their taxes,” he added.