PUTRAJAYA: The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) is taking its tax awareness drive directly to the public throughout October as part of efforts to bring more people into the tax system and encourage voluntary compliance.
Its chief executive officer Datuk Dr Abu Tariq Jamaluddin said officers would visit shopping malls, business premises, schools, higher education institutions and community locations nationwide under the Jelajah Literasi HASiL initiative.
“HASiL is not just waiting for you to come to us. This month, we are coming to you,” he told reporters after launching Bulan Hasil 2026 at IOI City Mall here on Thursday (Oct 1).
Abu Tariq said the campaign was aimed particularly at those who may have taxable income or obligations but have yet to report them.
“Our focus is to ensure that those who may not have reported come forward and join us in this programme,” he said.
He said LHDN did not set a specific target for Bulan Hasil, but expected voluntary compliance to improve as more people became aware of the assistance and channels available to them.
Bulan Hasil 2026, themed “Lapor Sukarela, Tanggungjawab Bersama (Voluntary Disclosure, Shared Responsibility)”, replaces the previous Tax Education Month and has a wider scope covering tax information, guidance, voluntary correction and public participation in improving tax compliance.
Abu Tariq said the change reflected LHDN’s intention to be seen not only as an agency that collects taxes and enforces tax laws, but also as a facilitator that helps taxpayers understand and meet their obligations.
“Bulan Hasil has a broader scope. We cover all aspects of taxation and we hope that closer engagement with the community will further increase voluntary compliance,” he said.
As of Aug 31, LHDN had more than 7.6 million active individual tax files and over 620,000 active company tax files.
Abu Tariq said active files referred to those involving tax-related activity, including the submission of tax returns and fulfilment of tax obligations.
He said LHDN was also working from time to time to reactivate inactive tax files.
“We expect there to be an increase. At the same time, we have activities to activate these files, and this is something we carry out from time to time,” he said.
He added that the total number of tax files in LHDN’s system was much higher because individuals aged 18 and above are assigned tax identification numbers.
“So they may not yet be working and may not be paying tax, but they have a tax file. That is why the total number of tax files is high,” he said.
