IRB chief, follow the adage of 'saying doesn't make it so'

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YOURSAY | ‘Who determines and declares it as donation? The donor or recipient?’

Political donations not subject to tax, says IRB chief

Vijay47: Inland Revenue Board (IRB) chief executive officer Mohd Shukor Mahfar, I am sure that when you said political donations are not liable, you were speaking generally about a tax principle and not referring to any specific personality or amount. In the same way, I am also sure that you will not take it lying down if someone comes up with a cock-and-camel story of ‘donation’.

You would want to be satisfied that a receipt was such that it did not fall into any of the classes of income? To reach such a decision, you would, first, definitely raise a host of questions and second, depending on the seriousness of allegations, may also want to carry out a Means Test using a Capital Statement of that person's assets and liabilities.

The first question, even of a donation, would be "Why were you given this amount? (The ‘who’ does not matter.) What evidence is there that it is a donation?"

In the case of an employee, however high or humble his station be, any amount, however described, received in exercising his employment would be liable, even if received not from his employer but a third party.

I am sure the case of ‘Calbert vs Wainwright’ would readily come to your mind, as would the example of poor Mei Hwa and her tips in Public Ruling 2 of 2013. With IRB’s famous vigilance on fairy tales from taxpayers, you would follow the adage of 'Saying does not make it so'.

The taxpayer has to put his money where his mouth is and if unable to do so, render it unto Caesar. The money, not his mouth.

Malaysian taxpayers would support you in your campaign to investigate professionals, including lawyers, doctors, artists and other animals. But to reach your target and boldly go beyond, I would suggest you also focus on another category, where the fruits are as countless as the stars in heaven - all 222 members of Parliament on both sides of the political divide.

In fact, you can also do your dance on all state assemblypersons. Your task here would be straightforward - just ask the MP/assemblyperson to explain the sources of funds for the assets he owns. Verily I say unto thee, Tan Sri, thy rewards shall be a hundredfold.

Kit P: The IRB website defines donations as "sumbangan kepada organisasi yang diluluskan". I can believe it as tax-exempt political donation if the RM 2.6 billion was paid into an Umno account. How can Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank account be considered "sumbangan kepada organisasi yang diluluskan"?

1Citizen: Who determines and declares it as donation? The donor or recipient? Aren’t any of the authorities interested in finding out? At least how the donation is used? If given out to individuals as bribes or consultancy fees, are they liable to income tax? Why can't these things be explained in detail by whoever, once and for all, to clear all issues. Otherwise, we cannot trust anybody and everybody involved.

Res Ipsa: Well, now we have the latest clown in the form of the IRB CEO coming on board to exonerate the PM, even before the donation story has been conclusively established as final. This, given the fact that the Saudi foreign minister has clarified that it was an investment, as opposed to a donation.

Even if it was in fact a donation that did not render it liable to tax, was the appropriate declaration made by Najib at the material time to the IRB? And assuming that the declaration was in fact made, the onus would certainly be on the IRB to investigate and ascertain that there are no schemes in place for tax evasion.

Was this done in the first place? Certainly not, since the donation storyline was only allegedly cooked up well after the expose by Sarawak Report and The Wall Street Journal of the monies being channelled into the PM's personal bank accounts. The expose had caught the guilty one with his pants down and hence the need to run for cover and hatch some explanation to contain the damage.

Notwithstanding this, the IRB is now aware that monies to the tune of RM2.6 billion found their way into the personal accounts of the PM. In this scenario, isn't it incumbent upon the IRB to conduct its own investigation to ensure that the monies were in fact political donations and thus exempted from tax?

Salient questions, such as why the monies were put into a personal, as opposed to a party account, need to be asked to get to the truth of the matter. Isn't this part and parcel of the job of the IRB?

So, Mr CEO, please do not put the cart before the horse in reaching such finding on the donation issue. All the rakyat are asking is for you to show some semblance of credibility by carrying out your public functions in a diligent and honest manner.

Don't you agree that this is a fair and reasonable request?

Anonymous_1416272691: How can a donation paid to a person, and in this case personally to Najib, be a political donation? If it was a donation, why wasn't Muhyiddin Yassin and the Umno supreme council briefed? How could Najib make a unilateral decision to return the money if it wasn't his money but money paid to a political party?

Speaking sense: How profound. Brilliant! "If not subjected to tax, no tax; if subjected to tax, then tax." What a revolutionary discovery - who would have thought of this? This must mean if I declare all my income as donation from my employer, then it cannot be taxed.

If I am foolish enough to declare it as taxable income, then I will be taxed! What a great new business for tax accountants for the potential millions of clients who can now claim tax-free income so easily.

Burong merah: Bosses pay minimum wages to their managers/staff and the balance amount is by means of donation. We do not have to pay income tax.

Anonymous 2305141436452229: Time for drug lords and other illegal distributors to sell, I mean give away, goods and take money under the pretence of ‘political donation’.

Boeyks: What's about that submarine consultant who was paid 30 million euros , which he said was for his fee? Is consultancy fee amounting to millions in ringgit also exempted from tax?

VP Biden: What a scandal. Political donation is not legislated. Show us the legislation that shows otherwise.

Anonymous 2397511454644111: “If the income is subjected to tax, (then we can tax); if income not subjected to income tax, then we cannot tax.” I think the statement is very clear.

SelangorKu: Any income, even from illegal source like prostitution, is subject to tax. The onus is on the taxpayer to prove that the income is political donation and it is not IRB to prove it is not a political donation.

Under the new self-assessment tax system, Najib has to prove it. If it is a political donation, why is it not banked into Umno’s or BN’s bank account? That means it is illegal under the Money Laundering Act.

As a poor taxpayer, I am interested to know the real tax answer. The IRB boss reports to the finance minister and hence his opinion is not independent.

Roar For Truth: Now every Malaysian is a politician. Time to find an Arab donor. No more income tax to pay.

Mojo Jojo: Nice, someone can keep his pie and eat it, as it seems.


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