QUICK AND EASY: 2.3 million filed their taxes online last year
KUALA LUMPUR: AROUND 2.5 million Malaysians are expected to submit their taxes through e-Filing system this year.
Inland Revenue Board public relations officer Masrun Maslim said this was an increase of 28.87 per cent compared with last year.
"The e-Filing system is fast gaining a foothold among Malaysians taxpayers as compared with the conventional paper and pen method.
"The increase is significant in the non-business category, with almost 1.6 million taxpayers using the option last year."
He said 2.3 million Malaysians submitted their taxes through the e-Filing system last year.
"We hope taxpayers would submit their forms earlier and not wait until the last minute, to avoid the online traffic.
"The e-Filing application will help taxpayers fill out, calculate and send the forms back to IRB in a more easy, accurate and safe way."
On March 1, IRB introduced the m-Filing system to help mobile-savvy users with smartphones to file their taxes.
Businessman I. Selvaraju, 51, who has been managing his taxes for the past 12 years, said he now used the e-Filing method to submit his taxes.
"This method is easy and saves time and effort as I just need to key in the figures. The officers at the IRB office guided me on how to use the e-filing system. Since then, I have been using it to file my taxes without any glitch."
When asked if he had submitted his form for this year, Selvaraju said: "I must try to do it earlier this year as I always do it at the last minute."
Asked if he would use the m-Filing system, Selvaraju said he was not aware of it.
He added that he would still prefer to use his computer at home to do his taxes.
"I feel comfortable using a big screen to do the calculations.
"It is more convenient than cramming the numbers on a small screen."
As for income tax collector Loo Nickee, he sees no problems with both the systems.
"Everyone has his or her own favourite method. Both methods cater to their needs.
"E-Filing is mostly preferred by those with personal income. This is because with e-Filing, they could auto-calculate their income and instantly know the amount they have to pay.
"For those in the business income category, they would generally use the traditional method.
"Businesses deal with huge amounts of numbers and deductions, and a minor mistake like wrongly filing up the form could cause them dearly."
Loo said the e-Filing method was user-friendly. Since the system was stable, there would be no problem for the first timer to use this method, he added.
"I believe sooner or later, more people will opt for e-Filing. Now, with m-Filing, it is even easier as you could file your taxes while on the go."
As of Dec 31 last year, the number of registered taxpayers in Malaysia was 6.6 million, with 5.5 million individual taxpayers. Additional reporting by S.K. Thanusha
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