PM hopes LHDN can collect more revenue this year compared to RM197 bil projection

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hopes the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) will be able to collect more revenue than the board's projection of RM197 billion this year.

He said LHDN had succeeded in creating a new record in tax collection last year of RM183.34 billion, which was RM7.8 billion or 4.49 per cent more than the total collected the year before.

Malaysia, however, still has a low tax base which is around 11.2 per cent of the gross domestic product, compared to other neighboring countries such as Singapore at 12.6 per cent and Thailand 16.4 per cent, he added.

He said he does not deny that the steps taken by LHDN had succeeded in increasing the country's revenue but, at the same time, Anwar urged companies and individuals to carry out their responsibilities and come forward to pay taxes.

"The number of companies paying tax is still low, around 435,000 companies compared to 1.5 million registered companies in Malaysia.

"This means that less than 29 per cent of registered companies pay tax," he said at the 28th Revenue Day Celebration here today.

As of Dec 31, 2023, the number of individual taxpayers was 5.7 million with collection revenue of RM40.96 billion and for companies it was 539,113 with collection revenue of RM98.77 billion.

Anwar said the increase in tax collection would benefit the people in need. Among them, the Customs Department has helped to improve the Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) programme which has doubled its payments as the number of recipients jumped to 700,000 compared to 210,000 the year before.

-- BERNAMA

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