Expats who left owe RM50mil to taxman

CYBERJAYA: More than RM50mil in tax arrears have not been collected from expatriates who have left Malaysia since 2012, said Inland Revenue Board (IRB) CEO Datuk Sabin Samitah.

He said most of them were from the services sector, and had either falsified their real wages in the expatriate’s application form or declared a lower wage than what they actually received.

He said they also abused the student pass and did not attend college but instead carried out businesses and did not declare the income from their businesses or reported them to the board.

“We can also see (this) from the amount of remittances to their countries of origin and their luxurious lifestyle in this country,” he told reporters after launching the MyEXPAT system for expatriates’ income collection here yesterday.

Also present was Immigration Department director-general Datuk Mustafar Ali.

Sabin said the IRB was in talks with 75 countries that had signed the Double Taxation Agreement to recover the tax from the expatriates.

“Although we still do not have a specific mechanism to do so, this method has proven effective as it has been done in some other countries,” he said.

For this year, the IRB will take action against employers or sponsors who fail to carry out their responsibilities to deduct the tax of foreign workers before they return to their respective countries.

“IRB will conduct an investigation and audit agents who bring in expatriates and foreign workers to Malaysia because there are reports saying that the agents do not disclose the income or commissions received from expatriates,” he said.

He said the IRB would work with the Immigration Department through the Expatriate Services Division (ESD) to check on the status of their tax before leaving Malaysia.

“If they fail to pay the tax, the expatriates will not be allowed to leave or enter Malaysia,” he said.

According to statistics, Sabin said income tax collected from expatriates showed a consistent increase. — Bernama