IRB auditing 30 large enterprises to get back RM1.9b

THE Inland Revenue Board (IRB) is conducting tax audits and investigations on 30 large enterprises, and is looking at clawing back some RM1.9 billion in lost revenue due to tax avoidance and penalties.
According to a report in Nanyang Siang Pau today, IRB is close to wrapping up its investigation of 10 to 11 of these enterprises, with lost tax revenue and penalties totalling RM900 million.
Earlier media reports said more than 10 large companies with turnovers ranging between hundreds of millions of ringgit and billions of ringgit were believed to have been practising tax avoidance, costing the government RM500 million in lost tax revenue last year, and RM300 million for the first quarter of this year.
Asked by Nanyang to comment on the reports, IRB chief executive officer Datuk Sabin Samitah said audits and investigations being wrapped up on 10 to 11 enterprises showed that they have avoided paying as much as RM500 million in taxes, with penalties amounting to RM400 million.
He said apart from the above 11 firms, tax audits and investigations are being carried out on another 20 enterprises.
"We are auditing and investigating about 20 other big companies. They are mainly Malaysian companies with one or two multinationals," he said.
Sabin said these companies obtained tax rebates via restructuring exercises that mostly existed only on paper.