IRB collects RM22b in penalties up to July 2017

INLAND Revenue Board (IRB) has collected some RM22.329 billion in additional assessment and penalties from the beginning of 2015 up to July this year.
IRB deputy chief executive officer (Compliance) Abdul Manap Dim said the amount collected year-to-date amounted to RM6.148 billion, which was close to the amount of RM6.378 billion collected last year, Nanyang Siang Pau reported today.
Additional assessment and penalties are imposed by IRB on individual and corporate taxpayers who failed to comply with requirements under Income Tax Act 1967.
Abdul Manap said the big amount of additional assessment recovered from errant taxpayers every year since 2015 showed the efficiency of the board's tax collection and recovery mechanisms.
"Following investigations, IRB has collected more than RM22.3 billion in additional assessment and penalties from individuals who under-declared their income as well as companies involved in tax evasion since 2015," he pointed out.
"The board audited 1,576,709 individual and 138,203 corporate taxpayers in 2015, collecting RM9.844 billion in additional assessment and penalties. In 2016, it audited 1,742,801 individual and 161,760 corporate taxpayers and collected RM6.378 billion in additional assessment and penalties."
Based on the figures for the first seven months this year, he was confident that the total amount to be collected this year would be very much higher than last year's.