LGE confident of record tax collection by IRB in 2019

CYBERJAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng says he is confident that the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) can meet its tax collection target of RM150bil in 2019, after posting a new record in direct tax collection last year.

"As at Feb 21, IRB has received more than 203,000 voluntary disclosures, with additional taxes and penalty of RM1.306bil.

"This is a positive indicator towards the target for 2019," he said in his speech at the IRB's 23rd celebration here.

IRB rolled out the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme from Nov 3. The programme allows taxpayers to voluntarily disclose any supplementary income which were not declared for tax purposes.

The taxpayer who voluntarily comes forward is subjected to a lower penalty rate of between 10% and 15% of the tax payable, compared to the penalty rate of between 80% and 300% after the voluntary disclosure period expires.

The IRB collected RM137.04bil in taxes in 2018, 11.13% or RM13.723bil more than the RM123.31bil collected in 2017.

On a separate matter, Lim said the government would wait for the toll studies report which was expected to be completed in two or three months' time before making decisions whether to take over the other tolled highways.

He said the government will look into the other tolls after a thorough study by the Works Minister Baru Bian was completed in two or three months' time.

"We will work together with Works Ministry to look at the impact and whether the government is able to pay," he said at a press conference later.

Lim said talks with Gamuda Bhd would start earlier compared to with other highways as it was not as complicated.

The government earlier announced that it had begun talks with Gamuda Bhd to negotiate the acquisition of highway concessions for four main highways, which include Lebuhraya Damansara Puchong (LDP), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat (SPRINT), Lebuhraya Shah Alam (Kesas) and SMART Tunnel.