KUALA LUMPUR: Some RM8.2 billion in income taxes are still owed to the Inland Revenue Board.
The Finance Ministry said based on the board's record as of Dec 31, there are 791,239 individuals and 65,545 companies have arrears in income taxes.
"Meanwhile, a total of 943,872 individual tax payers and 19,309 companies overpaid their income tax last year, which involved an amount of RM11.8 billion.
"The government will ensure that the refund from the income tax return by the board is done systematically," it said in a written reply to a question by Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh (BN-Putatan).
Measures have also been taken to relax requirements for refunds.
"IRB will process the refund within a stipulated time provided that the income tax form is complete. Attention given to the refund payment is in line with IRB's service motto to give the best servvices to its clients and improve the system delivery. The refund will be remitted to the tax payers' registered account numbers. It can also be done through cheques and bank drafts."
It said IRB allowed those who have overpaid their income tax to have the excess amount used to offset to any arrears from previous years.
Most of the cases of overpaying was due to the scheduled tax cut set by employers on monthly earnings, which is higher than the actual taxable income, it said.