Taxman tells Uber, Grabcar drivers to declare earnings

KUALA LUMPUR: Part-time Uber and GrabCar drivers are not excluded from declaring their earnings to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB), says Chief Executive Officer Datuk Sabin Samitah.

He said if the earnings from providing the service, coupled with their fixed income exceeded the minimum threshold of RM30,000 a year, they would be subjected to taxation.

"The income (from Uber and GrabCar) must be declared as additional income in Form B," he told a press conference during IRB's Hi-tea with the media here today.

Sabin said these ride-hailing applications were fully computerised, which would allow tax department to obtain the list of drivers and the amount of their earnings.

He said IRB could also get information of an individual's income through banks when they purchase a property or vehicle.

Meanwhile, Sabin said it would ramp up efforts in audit and tax investigation against multinational companies (MNCs), as some of these companies were involved in planned tax evasion.

In this regard, IRB has established the 'Aggressive Tax Planning Division' which would likely result in the collection of about RM400 million from MNCs.

For 2016, Sabin said IRB has collected RM114.015 billion in direct taxes, despite the challenging economic climate.

"Out of this amount, the individual tax component accounted for about 26.45 per cent, corporate tax (57.75 per cent), petroleum tax (7.39 per cent) and the remaining is from other tax components," he added.

This year, the IRB has set a target to collect RM127.73 billion in direct taxes and would focus on sectors that have significant contribution to the country's Gross Domestic Product such as the manufacturing and services sectors. - Bernama