Fresh insights on Budget 2019

Yap (front row, fourth from left) with the participants

A talk titled “The Key Essentials of Budget 2019” was organised by the Centre for Extension Education (CEE) in collaboration with Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) and Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business on 23 November 2018 at Sungai Long Campus.

Invited to deliver the talk was FAM Department of Accountancy lecturer-cum-Chartered Accountant Yap Wai Onn. His areas of specialisation cover product costing, pricing, management accounting, risk profiling, financial analysis, corporate restructuring and taxation.

The talk aimed to provide fresh insights on the latest Budget 2019 proposed by the government and its significance for the economy, capital market and the general public. It also aimed to identify the essential highlights of the Budget 2019 proposal and recognise the main tax changes presented in the 2019 Budget Proposal.

Before the talk commenced, CEE Director Lim Guat Yen presented a token of appreciation to Yap.

“There are three focus areas under Budget 2019 that aim to restore our country’s financial affairs. The first one sees the implementation of institutional reform. This is to promote physical discipline, to ensure a stable growth of the economy and to broaden the government’s revenue. The second one ensures the social-economic wellbeing of the people. This is to make sure the people are taken care well. For example, a person who owns a car which is less than 1.5cc or a motorcycle which is less than 1.25cc is eligible to apply for a subsidy of RM0.30 per litre. Aside from that, there is also a new disclosure especially for the public listed company. They are required to disclose the item called “Key Pay Metrics” in their annual report starting from the year 2019. The third one promotes Malaysia as a business-friendly economy. This is to attract more investors to do investment with Malaysia,” said Yap.

Yap sharing with the participants the budget tabled by Malaysia’s Finance Minister

Meanwhile, he also shared about the changes in tax which impact both the individual and the corporation such as Sales & Service Tax (SST). Besides, he also talked about the government’s initiative for PTPTN in Budget 2019, where the employer can help to settle the loan on behalf of their employee. In this way, the employer will be eligible for tax reduction. On top of that, he also shared about Industry 4.0 which serves as the national policy of the government to encourage manufacturers to embrace, migrate and transform to industrial revolution 4.0. This helps to promote Malaysia as a high technology hub to attract more investors.

Participants listening attentively to the speaker

“There are a total of 15 million workforces in Malaysia. Among these 15 million, only 15% of the people are paying taxes, whereas 34% of the people are not paying taxes and 51% are not even registered which means no declaration of income.  Among 1.2 million companies who registered with Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM), only 16% are paying taxes and 84% of the companies are not paying taxes. Hence, the government has launched a special programme called “Voluntary Disclosure Programme”, aimed to encourage taxpayers to come forward and declare unreported income. They are given an opportunity to volunteer themselves until 30 June 2019, this was initiated by the government to promote a good corporate and individual taxpayers.  For those who do not earn any income, they are still required to declare as a “zero income”. Penalty impose to the taxpayers can be 100% to 300%, however Inland Revenue Board (IRB) is reducing the tax penalty to 10% if only the tax payers declare their income within 3 Nov 2018 to March 2019. Subsequently, 15% of the penalty to be imposed, if the taxpayersdeclare their income within April to June 2019. All the payment (liability and penalty) must be made by 1 April 2019. If the declaration is made within April to June 2019, the due date will be 1 July 2019. Legal action will be taken if fail to do so,” said Yap.

The talk then ended with an interactive Q&A session followed by a group photo session.

Lim (left) presenting a token of appreciation to Yap

A participant during the Q&A session