Although the title of this article might seem a bit weird as it’s the last thing anyone wants to do but nevertheless many people are already doing this successfully on an annual basis.
It would prove to be both humorous and enlightening to a look at some of this common endeavors that the common taxpayers take upon themselves every year. One of the most common mistakes that taxpayers make are when it comes to payments.
Paying more by paying less
Well, you have 2 sets of people here.
First is those who ignore to pay their final tax that is due by 30th April or 30th June. What happens then is that the IRB would automatically impose the 10% penalty on their taxes. Nothing much can I say about these groups of people except to please wake up!
Next you have the individuals who will swear upon their mother’s grave that the IRB owes them money and in view of this they take upon themselves to ‘contra’ off this amount and ignore the payments due.
What you must understand is the payments are due on the last due date of filing regardless of the circumstances.
If truly you do have a credit with the IRB, visit your branch and request for confirmation of this credit.
Then apply with the IRB’s collection unit to utilise this credit against your tax payable and collect the confirmation letter from the IRB.
Paying more when you don’t need to pay anything
Individuals who have a OG number or have a business source of income would receive a notice of installment payment that is due bi-monthly starting from March every year. Some taxpayers who know in advance that their business would be making a loss and that there’s no tax obligation that year tend to skip paying the installments.
Well what they see as right would be seen as non-payment by IRB and each installment would be attracting a penalty. Nice way to pay tax for a year without tax huh?
So the next time someone tells you, “Haiya, no need to pay one lah……” Think twice.
