Encounter with the IRB!!

received income for year 2005 in year 2006 which threw me into a different tax bracket. so wanted to find out how i can get a revised calculation for YA2005 and get a lower bracket for YA2006. found out that there is a counter in subang parade (next to MPH). thanks keat!

so i happily went. there was this mr chong from lembaga hasil dalam negeri, shah alam branch, who invited me to sit down. so i did. i explained the abovementioned situation. he took one look at the EA form and said, "why did the company put the whole amount in this year??? must compound this company already!!! didn't do the deductions for xxx"...

i looked at him, alarmed! "do the deductions for what again???"

he gave me the look that indicate everybody should know what those 3 alphabets stand for. "xxx... that's where they deduct the tax from your pay".... oh... paye (pay as you earn)... the malay abbreviation...

gee... i tot to myself... how scary this guy must be to those who have no tax knowledge whatsoever... and the govt would wonder why nobody bother to go to lhdn and seek clarification when in doubt. i would think twice about approaching this guy again.

proceeded to lecture him about his lack of consideration for the smaller companies who probably employed people who are not chartered accountants to do their finance work... his immediate response being "compound the company" when these mistakes may have been made when acting in good faith... and that due consideration was not given to the spirit of the "act" enacted wrt paye (which was to ensure taxpayers are not burdened with a lumpsum payment when time comes to pay taxes, and NOT for purpose of increasing lhdn's revenue via compounds on the companies!!)... and that the attitude he displayed would not have been very taxpayer friendly.

further asked for his name and lhdn branch which he worked for...

he then explained that the IRB is not unreasonable. the compound can be cancelled or discounted if the reasons given are acceptable. that the companies should seek clarification should there be doubts.

then i asked him for the number to call if i wish to seek further clarification. but he does not have his office number with him... so sad....

anyways, i suppose it's frustrating working in the irb. looking through all those forms filled up by people who are not trained to do so. but i suppose these frustrated people should not be the ones sent as frontliners to deal with the public. a very negative perspective he will plant in everybody he meets. low EQ. offensive style of talking. not focussed on resolving issues or clarifying doubts. more focussed on expressing frustration and old school style of getting what they want by threathening to fine ppl!!! sigh...