Bankrupt taxpayers qualify for BR1M

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian taxpayers who have been declared bankrupt by the Insolvency Department are still qualified to apply for government aid such as the 1Malaysia Peoples' Aid (BR1M), said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
Najib, who is also finance minister, said this in a parliamentary written reply to Datuk Marcus Mojigoh (BN-Putatan) who wanted to know the amount of tax collected and the amount yet to be collected by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) last year.
Marcus also asked if Putrajaya would declare bankrupt those who failed to pay their taxes, as well as the number of those already declared bankrupt, and the type of government aid they received.
Najib said as of Dec 31 last year, the total gross direct tax collected by IRB stood at RM114.02 billion, while uncollected income tax was estimated at RM6.81 billion.
"Taxation laws enable the government to take action against those who fail to pay their outstanding tax amount.
"Before we take any legal action, a reminder letter as well as notice of arrears will be sent to the taxpayers. We will also bar them from leaving the country based on Section 104 of the Income Tax Act 1967," he said.
Najib said IRB had registered with the Insolvency Department 116 bankruptcy cases, involving RM14.40 million. From that amount, 93 cases which involve outstanding tax of RM11.32 million relates to individuals, while 23 cases involving RM3.08 million involve companies.
On another matter, Najib called on critics of the government to stop sabotaging the economy with their negative comments on the Barisan Nasional administration.
"Making baseless or incorrect accusations can have a negative influence and weaken our economy.
"National interest cannot be jeapordised for party politics because national interest must be above all," Najib said when answering questions in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to Datuk Seri Dr Irmohizam Ibrahim (BN-Kuala Selangor), who wanted to know how Putrajaya would respond to people Najib labelled "economic saboteurs".
"Let there be no such elements. We almost lost a deal from Aramco worth RM31 billion because of utterly wrong facts (spread by) certain parties," Najib said.