have you filed your taxes yet?
I did it last week, and it was a surprisingly simple and fast process.
This being my first year filing taxes/ declaring my income, I had apprehensions and doubts regarding certain rules, regulations and terminology. I’d never bothered about taxes before, because I was not earning enough to be eligible for paying taxes. Even when I was eligible, I just… didn’t. There were the monthly deductions from salary of course (PCB) but years of listening to people groan and moan about having to file taxes and the complications and headaches that come with it, it just put me off from the whole thing lah. This decision didn’t sit well with my eldest sister who is very much responsible when it comes to these things. She’d look at me with her eldest sister stare and say in her eldest sister voice, “Even if you do not need to pay anything, you still have to file your taxes! It is very irresponsible not to declare your income, etc etc.” Maybe I should take a video of her tuned in her full eldest sister mode, then you’d understand why her voice kept ringing in my head about filing my taxes and other similar grown-up stuff.
I registered as a tax payee late last year. There was a scheduled meeting at the LHDN Jalan Duta and I thought to myself, what the heck, might as well…. Made a copy of my identity card and latest salary slip, went up to the offices, took a number, filled out a form, handed over the relevant documents and I was presented with a slip containing my tax reference number. Whole process took less than 30 minutes. So easy.
Naturally I didn’t plan on filling out the pages and pages of complicated forms just to file my taxes. A couple weeks ago, I was at the LHDN Kelana Jaya for work stuff, and saw a notice that states ‘eFiling registration, 6th floor’. Another ‘what the heck, might as well’ moment, so I went up to said level. Stood in line for less than 5 minutes, presented my identity card to the lady behind the counter and she presented me with a slip containing my eFiling pin number. I went back to the office, went on to e-Hasil, read and followed the instructions and within 10 minutes I was done with filing my taxes. Wah lau, this is easier than buying Gardenia butterscotch bread! I wonder how people did it manually before, heh.
Hafiz Noor Shams wrote an article asking “Why should we pay income tax to BN?” published in The Malaysian Insider. I thought it was a good, thinking piece reminding people that they directly, indirectly, technically and rightfully have a say in the governance of their country. Then you read the comments below the article and you realise that a lot of people jump the gun and take things at face value. It’s okay lah, I’m sure if you go to said article from my blog, you’d have a lot more understanding and maturity than that 
While discussing this issue, KY mentioned a colleague of his who suggested that voting rights be made parallel with the paying of taxes. Something like, for every RM100 or RM1000 you pay, you get an additional vote in the next elections. I thought that was a sweet suggestion What say you?
Anyway, 4 more days till the tax-filing deadline for individuals. Good luck have fun.
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E-filing is easy and fast, but I need to pay quite a bit this time for my income tax… darn, going broke…
Then rich people would dominate politics even more than they already do with their ‘campaign contributions’ and ‘donations’ the right causes.
Minority ruling the majority never makes sense.
Kinda undermines the whole core basis of a democracy. Everyone’s not really equal anymore then since the “worth” of their vote would be relevant to how much money they earn.
And not to mention, the people who pay higher taxes are the ones who have more say – which er, isn’t that what’s happening lately already?
O/T: OMG GARDENIA BUTTERSCOTCH BREAD!!!!!
Irenelim: even after all the EPF/ life insurance/ medical deductions? i feel your pain
ST: they already are
but at some point, they will gripe about recurring probs not fixed by the government, right? project costs 10mil, pocket a couple mil for all i care but make sure the damn thing works/ run properly mfs
mell: that’s one way of looking at it lor.. some ppl pay so much taxes yet some simple and basic necessities aren’t met. can understand their frustration from some of their ‘woe is me’ pov. different solutions for different country with different needs kua
I’m waiting for my salary before paying… gahhhh
ST,
but the super rich already have a say, it’s giving the middle class a bit more say. After all the middle class is the one segment of society that gets taxed the most and has the least say.. :s
i did, and i’m surprised it was done before the usual last minute filling.
did e-filling since the first year they implemented it. easy and easy. lol. ohya, i over paid the tax, apparently i’m not making much each month.
There actually used to be rules that connected taxation with voting rights. But this was abused in many places – for instance in the U.S. the southern states used such rules to exclude blacks from voting in the years after the civil war. So, as political theory developed it was eventually largely agreed that civil rights such as the right to vote should not be denied as this would discriminate against a great number of people permanently. We sort of inherited these principles from the British, who on their own had come to the same conclusion.
Yeah I did e-filing and it’s easier than the mannual ones! I had an ex-colleague whom didn’t file her taxes for years because her income is not taxable and suddenly one day, she received a summon for not filing it.
Myhorng, new regulations dictate that employers lump the bonus paid into year of payment, instead of year of entitlment. I.e, if you receive RM1,000 for 2007 bonus in January 2008, you should report that RM1000 plus your full year earnings in 2008. I believe many employers (incl mine), still seperate the 2 payments. Hence, our EA forms would have “RM10,000″ for full year salary, and at the bottom part would have “RM1,000 untuk bayaran bagi tahun tahun lepas). The problem with following this ea form format is that on E-filing, the system does not calculate tax on your bonus. Hence, it may seem that you overpaid in your monthly pcb payments (which is lumped and not seperated). LHDN will issue you a letter that states that they are not able to proccess your overpayment of tax.
hehehhehe, that’s why happened to me (2007 and 2008). i still gotta pay them, but am waiting for them to contact me… you can drag this as long as they dont contact you, after all, you are good, tax paying citizen and were only following the ea form issued by the employer ;p
Ahhhh… i have a dream, a tiny dream which flutters in my heart everytime the Budget is tabled… all i wish is that they seperate the tax relief for KWSP and life insurance premium. By the time you put in the amount for KWSP, it is likely that you will hit the RM6k limit, hence, no relief for life insurance premium!!! darn…
we are generous tax payer. but sometimes please give us back our privileges or even basic right as citizen of this country. damn it.
1. For those doesn’t touch the RM2500 range, filing tax mean LHDN must pay you some rebate. Not much, but better than not filing tax.
2. Self-employed people suppose to pay less tax, if they spend time to do tax planning.
3. Malaysia tax is NOT cheap compare to 1st world, when you check out the effectiveness of tax spending.
this year i’ll be doing it last minute. since only back on the last day. borang EA in the Kl office. glhf to me.:(
Wait…wait…wait….now I’m still waiting a response from the LHDN server after pressing the log-in button. It seems like their servers are all jammed up again this year. Feeling regret for not submitting earlier.
ANyway, not sure if you guys heard that recently the LHDN has been very active to check on those who tried to claim back overpaid taxes especially Chinese. I felt that this is very wrong and evil just because the government has ran out of money. WHy only target Chinese? Is it that most tax payers are Chinese while the so-called Bumis are tax evaders?
Adding to that, the recent Sukuk(BNM bond), ASM & ASW are just tools used by the government to reap money from the Chinese to fund the 6 billion mini budget.
ZL, dont be so paranoid lah. why spread rumours???
KY: now that you’ve paid, pain or not
horng: congrats
Suertes: i guess it would have eventually ended up being misused. but the sad state of affairs is that middle class also kena the most
eiling: oO another story of why everyone should declare. should thank my eldest sis
LT: i second the kwsp/ life thing
aeroplane: see, middle class talking
moo_t: nope it’s not really cheap despite what the powers that be say. not forgetting other taxes, e.g. road
FA: good luck have fun! do it at the crack of dawn, no one will fight with you over the use of e-hasil
zl: that’s why la.. last minute job
actually i personally know that LHDN very active in checking overpaid taxes, regardless of race. so i don’t know what you are trying to imply
dude,
how to claim for overpaid tax? My PCB is a bit more than what it should be. I did my E-filling yesterday, so should I write letter to them informing that I have overpaid and need them to return it back or is it just wait for the tax return to come into my mail box?
dude, they’d review and send you a cheque. i received my cheque end of march, i filed early march