LHDN: No change yet to income tax payment system for medical practitioners

KUALA LUMPUR: The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) has not made any decision on whether to amend the tax law in relation to income tax payments among medical practitioners.
"We already had engagement with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Persatuan Doktor Pakar but we have not finalised all the cases and we are going to meet up again with MMA soon," said LHDN CEO Datuk Sabin Samitah.
"We are looking at this statement by the minister. The suggestion involves the tax law so we have to look into it. There is no decision yet," he told reporters at the LHAG Tax, GST & Customs seminar today.
Last month, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam urged LHDN to review and find solutions for income tax payment system among medical practitioners.
Subramaniam's suggestion was in response to Sabin's comments that over 3,000 specialist doctors were found to have underpaid their taxes by wrongly declaring income as corporate income rather than individual income.
"What we are doing now actually, we are finalising the audit for all the cases. We have given them timeframe to submit on voluntary disclosure by end of last year and most of the doctors have submitted their declaration on voluntary disclosure. We are finalising most of the cases," said Sabin.
He said LHDN cannot amend the tax law just to cater to one segment of the community as any changes would affect other professions that may be declaring income tax in a similar way.
"There is no guarantee that we are going to change the law. We really have to look into it. It is only a suggestion from the minister," he added.