KUALA LUMPUR: There have been over 180,000 international travel restrictions imposed by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) on Malaysians due to income tax arrears.
Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying told the Dewan Negara that since the ruling was applied until Feb 29 this year, there have been 182,666 travel restrictions, involving 171,571 cases of individuals with income tax arrears, and 11,095 cases of property profit tax arrears.
"Before the travel restriction is enforced, the IRB will take preliminary action on errant taxpayers by sending several reminder letters and issuing tax arrears notification emails as well as making phone calls to the taxpayers involved.
"However, failure to settle tax arrears within the stipulated period will result in taxpayers facing restrictions on travel abroad."
She said this in response to a question from Senator Datin Ros Suryati Alang, who had asked the ministry to reveal statistics on travel restrictions due to income tax arrears.
Lim added that in order to prevent travel plans from being disrupted, the IRB through various platforms had advised all taxpayers to check their travel status before their trip.
"Taxpayers can check the status of tax arrears through the MyTax portal, in addition to checking travel restrictions on the Immigration Department website if there are restrictions enforced by other agencies."
