Don't forget to settle your taxes before death

SETTLE your income tax before you die if you don’t want to burden your children.
Even an amount as small as RM25 in tax left unpaid upon death by individuals could land their children in legal trouble, or result in the latter being barred from leaving the country.
Inland Revenue Board (IRB) Director-General Datuk Sabin Samitah said that in the last 15 years, 18,798 tax payers owed a total of RM169.5 million in taxes upon their death.
He said the above figures were recorded between 2001 and 2015, and the amount owed by individuals ranged between RM25 and RM2.6 million, China Press reported yesterday.
He advised tax payers to not to make light of their back taxes, as their actions could, upon their death, result in their children being hauled off to courts or forbidden from going overseas.
Sabin said IRB calculates individuals’ taxes based on the income they earned up to their very last day.
As such, it is incumbent upon tax payers to settle all their taxes before they die to avoid burdening their children, he said.
According to Sabin, the tough stand taken by the board is aimed at encouraging tax payers to settle their taxes promptly so as to not trouble their heirs.

He said under section 74 of the Income Tax Act 1967, the executors of a deceased person’s will have the duty to make provision for the payment of the taxes due by the deceased from the assets of his estate.