KUALA LUMPUR: More than 5,000 companies have applied for access to the Inland Revenue Board's MyInvois portal ahead of the rollout of e-invoicing from Aug 1, says Datuk Dr Abu Tariq Jamaluddin.
"As of June 30, over 5,000 companies have received their client identification and client secret keys, enabling them to access our MyInvois API (application programming interface) Testing Environment, also known as the Sandbox Environment.
"This preparation phase is crucial for a smooth transition to the new system," the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) chief executive officer said during the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) Power Chat e-invoicing with business representatives on Tuesday (July 16).
This comes after LHDN recorded more than 20.5 million API requests in the testing environment.
Abu Tariq said over 100 pioneer companies have since been granted access to the MyInvois API Production Environment ahead of the Aug 1 deadline.
"These companies have started issuing e-invoices beginning from May 2 before the Aug 1 implementation," he added.
Beginning Aug 1, taxpayers with an annual turnover exceeding RM100mil are required to implement e-invoicing.
Businesses with revenue between RM25mil and up to RM100mil must implement e-invoicing by Jan 1 next year.
By July 1 next year, all other businesses, including SMEs, hawkers and traders are required to adopt e-invoicing.
But on July 2, Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan told Dewan Rakyat that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are earning less than RM150,000 annually are not required to issue e-invoices.
Asked if the e-invoicing rollout would be delayed following calls by some parties, Abu Tariq said the proposed new system was announced as early as 2022, including during the Budget 2024.
Recently, there is a call to defer the full implementation of e-invoicing to Jan 1, 2027, instead of July 1 next year.
Abu Tariq said several concessions were made to ease the transition process for companies and businesses to move to the online taxation system.
Among them, he said was to allow for consolidated monthly e-invoicing by companies as opposed to issuing e-invoicing for every sale or service provided.
He said companies must keep a record of every transaction in their system and must issue an e-invoice if requested by buyers or customers.
"Companies or businesses with a turnover of less than RM150,000 annually will be fully exempted from e-invoicing for the time being.
"They will not be required to submit e-invoices or consolidated e-invoices," he said.
He said this was announced by the government concerning exemptions to MSMEs.
"We will update our e-invoicing guidelines to reflect the latest policy change," he said, while assuring companies and businesses that IRB would not necessarily come down hard for non-compliance with e-invoicing requirements.
"We will study based on a case-by-case basis and will not penalise non-compliance if a reasonable excuse is given," he added.
Among them are companies or businesses that are unable to submit their online e-invoices due to poor internet connection.
Although acknowledging some businesses and companies in rural areas might be facing such problems, Abu Tariq said connectivity should not be a big issue in light of the national coverage.
