KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) — As announced by Yang Berhormat Tuan Lim Guan Eng during the tabling of the 2019 Budget last year, the government is committed in prospering the rakyat and to reduce leakages in the country’s revenue. For that purpose, the government launched the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) beginning 3 November 2018 to 30 June 2019. The SVDP offers a reduction in the penalty rate from 300% to 10% if the declaration is made in the first phase which runs from 3 November 2018 until 31 March 2019, and subsequently 15% if the declaration is made in the second phase beginning 1 April 2019 until 30 June 2019.
Malaysia, together with more than 100 countries, have signed an agreement to partake in the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) initiative under the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on financial information, particularly bank account ownership and has begun receiving this information from September 2018. To date, Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) has received information from 57 countries on more than 455,000 bank accounts opened by Malaysians. Therefore, the SVDP offers tax solutions to those who have bank accounts overseas from income generated from within Malaysia but the income has yet to be reported to IRBM.
