CYBERJAYA: A total of 408,726 cases have been audited and investigated by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) this year, says its chief executive officer Datuk Abu Tariq Jamaluddin.
He said the findings resulted in additional tax assessments amounting to about RM7.7 bil.
Abu Tariq said the areas targeted for compliance action include high-net-worth individuals; the tobacco, liquor and vape sectors; e-Invoice data and information on Malaysian taxpayers’ overseas accounts.
“These compliance and enforcement measures are important to ensuring fairness in the country’s tax system and protecting the interests of taxpayers who fulfil their obligations,” he said in his speech at the Inland Revenue Board’s Innovation and Integrity Day celebration here on Tuesday (Nov 3).
Abu Tariq added that while voluntary compliance is always prioritised, firm action will be taken against those who deliberately evade tax responsibilities.
He said integrity is also fundamental to LHDN’s strength and credibility.
“As an institution entrusted with collecting the country’s taxes, every decision and action taken by our personnel must be guided by the law, professionalism, transparency and integrity.
“Public trust in LHDN must always be safeguarded.
“The management will neither compromise on nor protect anyone involved in integrity-related misconduct or corruption,” he said.
He also said LHDN’s main innovation focus for this year’s celebration is the development and adoption of artificial intelligence technology in the country’s tax administration.
Abu Tariq said among the applications that have been developed or are currently being developed include HAFY-Tax Assist, a conversational AI-based chatbot assisting taxpayers round the clock; Instrument Recognition and Intelligence Model which can identify the types of documents or instruments and determine the appropriate stamp duty rates based on their contents; and Behavioural Analytics which analyses the patterns and behaviour of taxpayer groups to enable more targeted monitoring and compliance strategies.
Other measures taken include the Next-Best Action Predictive Model determining the most appropriate tax collection action based on the several criteria as well as the MyInvois Advanced Analytics Anomaly Detection Model.
“Through this model, more than 7,700 potential cases have been identified as carrying tax risks that require audit and investigation intervention,” he said.
