KUALA LUMPUR: There is no plan to review the tax relief amount for individuals, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
However, the Prime Minister said that the government would continuously improve income tax relief for individual taxpayers through targeted approaches and special reliefs.
"Through Budgets 2023, 2024 and 2025, a targeted approach has been implemented by increasing the tax relief amounts for medical treatment expenses, childcare allowances, persons with disabilities, education and medical insurance.
"Besides increasing the amount, the government, through Budget 2025, has also expanded the scope of existing tax relief such as extending care and treatment for parents to include grandparents and broadening the scope of health screenings to include the purchase of self-examination health equipment and fees for disease detection tests," said Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, in a written parliamentary reply on Thursday (July 24).
Earlier, Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) had asked the ministry if it would review the tax relief for individuals and life insurance premium payments that have remained the same at RM9,000 and RM3,000, respectively, for the past 15 years.
Dr Wee said that the amount did not reflect the effects of inflation and the current cost of living.
Anwar said that the government had also introduced special reliefs for specific purposes in Budget 2025.
This includes relief on interest payments for housing loans for the purchase of a first residential home.
"Through this relief, the purchase of a home priced up to RM500,000 qualifies for a tax relief of up to RM7,000, while a tax relief of up to RM5,000 can be claimed for the purchase of a residential home priced between RM500,000 and RM750,000," he added.
He added that to improve tax reliefs, the government has also reviewed and restructured the individual resident income tax rates starting from the assessment year 2023, reducing the tax rate by two percentage points for the taxable income range between RM35,001 and RM100,000.
"This tax rate reduction can provide an additional disposable income of up to RM1,300 per year for approximately 2.4 million taxpayers, including the middle-income group.
"In addition, the government is committed to improving tax administration and services to enhance efficiency and service levels for taxpayers," he said.
Anwar also said any future review or revision to income tax rates or individual tax relief amounts needs to be conducted carefully to avoid jeopardising the country's fiscal position.
He added that any changes in tax policy must also align with international taxation practices and not adversely affect the country's global commitments.
