I’ve Under-Reported My Income. Now What?

Tags: tax, tax filing

Table of Contents

Imagine this scenario: It is tax season once more. It is a tedious process, but it is something you have to do regardless. In order to get it out of the way, you log in to the MyTax website, load up your e-BE form, fill in your income and tax deductibles, and hit send. Now you can sit back, relax, and wait for confirmation before paying your taxes. Case closed right?

But wait! You just remembered that you switched jobs early last year, but you forgot to request your EA form from your previous employer! This means that you have just under-reported your annual income, and thus are paying less than you owe in taxes. If you leave things be, you may get penalised with a hefty fine down the road.

Fortunately, it is not the end of the world. There are still opportunities for you to amend the incorrect information on your BE form and avoid being hit by a massive bill.

Amending your BE form

For the most part, all the tools you need to file and pay your taxes can be found online. If you are not sure how to do so, you can find a quick and easy guide on filing your taxes here.

If you realised that you have made a mistake after submitting your tax file, you can still make some amendments to your BE form. The first thing you need to do is login to the MyTax website. Next, click the ezHasil Services drop down tab in the top-left corner of the page and select eFiling, just like you would when filing your BE form.

From there, you should have the option to select “e-Application for Amended BE Form”. You can change things such as lowering your stated statutory income, changing deductible amounts, etc. Just remember that you need to upload a copy of the receipts for your deductibles as proof. After this, you click submit and you are done. Easy right?

Well unfortunately, not everything can be amended through this method. One very important part of your BE form that you can’t amend online is an under-reported statutory income. Meaning that if your reported income is RM50,000 for example, you cannot amend it to be higher. You can only amend it to be lower.

So, if you are like me and you made the mistake of reporting your income lower than it should be, you are going to have to take a trip to your local LHDN branch!

Fixing an under-reported income in your BE form

Before you make the trip, you should really make a call to the LHDN Help Centre. This is to make sure that you know exactly what documents you need to bring, as well as which LHDN branch handles your tax file. Yes, you have to bring this issue up to the specific branch that handles your file. You can’t just walk into any branch and expect the problem to get solved.

For the most part, the basic documents that you will need includes:

A formal letter requesting the amendment of your BE form.
All relevant EA forms for the year of assessment that you wish to amend. (Including those from previous employers if you worked at multiple jobs)
A copy of your misfiled e-BE form. (You should be able to get this from the MyTax website)
All relevant documents and prove your tax deductibles and claims. (This includes receipts for medical, insurance premiums, computer parts, etc)

Do note that the formal letter can be written in English, if your Bahasa Malaysia is as rusty as mine.

Once you have all the documents prepared, you can just take a drive down to your designated LHDN branch to hand them in. In all honesty, it is a relatively painless process.

From my own experience, I simply walked into the premises, went to the tax filing reception counter, got a number, handed my documents over to the LHDN agent, verified a few things, and that was it! The hardest part of the whole process was waiting in line.

After you hand over your documents, you will be sent a letter of acknowledgement in a few weeks time to let you know about the amendment.

What’s next?

Overall, requesting an amendment for your BE form is relatively easy and straightforward. The most trouble you will likely have during the process is getting all the relevant documents and receipts together. Other than that, you should have no further issues.

One more thing to note was that the deadline for requesting an amendment was 15 May 2023. So if you think that you have under-reported your income and want to change it to avoid potential penalties, it might be a good idea to do it as soon as possible.

It’s not too late to make any amendments now even if you have already filed your taxes for this year. If you need more information, check out our Personal Income Tax Guide For 2023. Or try our Free Income Tax Calculator if you need to add more income details this time around.