Report: LHDN sets eyes on 100 VIPs to ensure tax compliance

KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) is scrutinising the finances of 100 prominent people in the country to see if they have been compliant with their tax obligations, The Star reported today.

LHDN CEO Datuk Mohd Nizom Sairi told the newspaper in an interview published today that the move was in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s call to check on tax dodgers, especially those who fall in the top 20 percentile income bracket, labelled the T20.

“LHDN has taken up the recent call by the prime minister to go after the rich who evade taxes,” Mohd Nizom was quoted as saying.

But he also said that the LDHN was not trying to send a message that “it is not good to be rich because you will be targeted”.

“This is not the message of the Prime Minister. His message is that if you are supposed to pay taxes, you must pay,” he was quoted as saying.

The newspaper reported LHDN data in June last year recorded that there were 31,598 entities comprising individuals, businesses, companies, and others who have yet to declare their actual incomes, resulting in tax losses estimated at RM665 million.

Anwar, who is also finance minister, had told taxmen on March 6 that they should go all out to identify tax dodgers, even if they were his “friends or supporters”.

Mohd Nizom told The Star that LHDN has a division which gathers information related to tax issues on a day-to-day basis.

“We have a dedicated division which is tasked with getting information from every possible or available source.

“This can be from public information or from other parties through legal means,” he was quoted as saying.

He said that once the gathered data is processed by the Tax Audit Compliance System and further analysed by experts, there are two possible outcomes: one of which is to conduct an audit on the individual or company, which may lead to charging in court if the evidence points towards non-compliance with tax laws.

“If we have enough information from several sources and are convinced that we have enough information to satisfy our suspicions, we will open an investigation paper," he was quoted as saying.

The violations include undeclared taxes, undeclared second income, and under-declaring income.

Mohd Nizom said LHDN is authorised to bring charges against offenders without having to refer the matter to the Attorney General's Chambers.

“This makes the LHDN prosecution process faster but not any easier,” he was quoted as saying.