Vouchers Will Replace Tax Refund Cheque, Says IRBM
The Internal Revenue Board Malaysia (IRBM) will be replacing tax refund cheques with the tax refund voucher system (BBBC) for taxpayers that refuse to disclose their bank account number to the IRBM.
The IRBM has come up with this voucher system to reduce cost incurred in issuing cheques, reduce the number of individual taxpayers who do not furnish bank account details and to address the cheating cases that have occurred.
This voucher system will help the IRBM save approximately RM250,000 annually in cost of issuing cheques.
“The BBBC is meant to be an alternative that is faster, more effective and cheaper, and we have also introduced EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer),” said the Director of Corporate Services Department Marina A Aziz.
With approximately 350,000 taxpayers who do not disclose their bank account number to the IRBM due to security reasons, the BBBC aims to reassure them that their bank details would be safeguarded.
These vouchers are highly secured and protected by a biometric system, and they can only be banked in or cashed out at CIMB or CIMB Islamic bank branches. The vouchers cannot be used to shop or exchange for any goods or services.
The BBBC will also be more secure to avoid cases of cheating as last year alone, there were five cases of cheating and attempts to cheat recorded, involving tax refunds of almost RM200,000.
Some gave false temporary address, while the rest gave incomplete address and that caused the cheques to be returned to the IRBM.
The BBBC will be carried out in stages with the first phase involving individual income taxpayers, excluding army and police personnel. Tax refund using these vouchers will take effect from April 1, 2016.
For areas that do not have CIMB or CIMB Islamic bank branches, the IRBM will make special exception and retain the mode of payment through electronic transfer or cheque.
