ON JUNE 2, the Finance Ministry officially announced that the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme 2.0 (SVDP 2.0) would take effect from June 6, 2023 until May 31, 2024. The SVDP 2.0, administered by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD), comes hot on the heels of the successful Voluntary Disclosure and Amnesty Programme (VDP) (also administered by the RMCD), which ran in two phases between Jan 1, 2022 and Sept 30, 2022.
Both the SVDP 2.0 and the VDP demonstrate government efforts to boost the country’s fiscal position and improve its revenue collection by incentivising non-compliant taxpayers to report any incorrect or undisclosed taxes that were previously unknown or undiscovered by RMCD.
In the past, non-compliant taxpayers were offered incentives such as partial or full penalty remissions in return for coming clean and making the necessary tax repayments under the VDP.
RMCD published a guideline and a set of FAQs on the SVDP 2.0 for indirect taxes on June 2. The guideline is only available in Bahasa Malaysia, and it can be accessed at https://ift.tt/obHUiqv.
Briefly, the SVDP 2.0 covers historical non-compliances and therefore, any underpaid/unpaid taxes until Feb 28 that falls under the ambit of the SVDP 2.0 shall be entitled to the incentives offered, in respect of the following legislations: Sales Tax Act 1972; Service Tax Act 1975; Goods and Services Tax Act 2014; Tourism Tax Act 2017; Sales Tax Act 2018; and Service Tax Act 2018.
Under the SVDP 2.0, the incentives offered for voluntary disclosures include 100% remission on penalties; no compounds will be issued under the programme; and the period declared under the programme will not be audited unless there is an element of fraud.
It is prudent to note that the SVDP 2.0 only involves voluntary disclosures made for under-declared or undeclared taxes. There is no avenue for persons to seek reimbursement for the overpayment of taxes under the programme. Further, the incentives under the SVDP 2.0 are not available to any person whose declaration involves tax liabilities that are being or have been investigated by the RMCD’s Enforcement Division; taxes where a Bill of Demand has been issued by the RMCD; tribunal/court cases that are currently being tried; or cases that are being audited by the RMCD’s Compliance Division.
The SVDP 2.0 should be seen as an opportunity for taxpayers to make good on any underpaid or unpaid taxes. In comparison to the hefty penalties provided for under the various legislations, the incentives offered under the programme are a mere slap on the wrist.
Further, seeing as the specified period will not be audited (unless there is fraud), submitting a voluntary disclosure will provide the taxpayer with protection against future audits, which may be tedious and time consuming. Having said that, disclosures should be made in good faith and taxpayers should not view this as an opportunity to thwart the tax authorities.
Lastly, the disclosures made under the SVDP 2.0 need not be accompanied by any supporting documents or tax computations. This reduces the administrative burden on the taxpayer and the potential barriers for taxpayer participation.
It is worth noting that there is also an avenue for the unpaid/underpaid taxes to be paid by instalments under the programme.
The SVDP 2.0 presents a golden opportunity for taxpayers to make good any underpaid/unpaid taxes and to start afresh on a clean slate. If there are doubts about whether taxes have been accurately declared and paid in the past, taxpayers should conduct an internal assessment of their tax affairs to identify any potential non-compliance of the legislation that falls under the SVDP 2.0.
In undertaking said internal assessment, taxpayers should also consider obtaining independent legal advice to ascertain any non-compliances with tax rules and legislations, as well as to understand the parameters of the SVDP 2.0 before making the necessary declarations to RMCD.
This article is contributed by Wee Jia Yi of Christopher & Lee Ong (https://ift.tt/kQleRO7).
Source: The Sun Daily
A word from our sponsor:
Need Help With Your Personal Finance / Money Issue or need a coach to help you structure or just want to learn the financial skill to self manage your financial matters and retirement. iLearnFromCloud.com
Need to solve a problem quickly, now you can solve it by learning the art of problem solving Art Of Problem Solving
Feeling hungry. Latest food news from Best Restaurant To Eat Malaysian Food and Travel Blog
Memory loss. Need to organize better. Solve problem fast with Free Mind Mapping Software Mind Mapping 101
Need A Customized System Development for your business or Going Paperless XPERT TECHNOLOGIES - Empowering The Paperless Economy
No comments:
Post a Comment