Taxman sues businessperson for RM1.4m in tax arrears

The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has gone to court to recover RM1.4 million in alleged tax arrears from a businessperson previously detained over purported links to online gambling.

The government, through the IRB, filed the writ of summons against Zaidi Kanapiah, who is also known as Addy Kanna, at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Oct 1.

On Dec 1 last year, it was reported that Zaidi and another businessperson, Goh Leong Yeong, who is also known as Alvin Goh, were detained for two years under the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) for alleged involvement in online gambling.

However, on April 27 this year, Bernama reported that Addy Kanna succeeded in his appeal at the Federal Court to quash his Poca detention.

Last week, it was reported that the MACC had filed a forfeiture suit against Goh, Zaidi’s wife Alyaa Syuhaila Mohamad Shariff, and three companies that seek over RM517,000.

According to a copy of the tax suit’s statement of claim sighted by Malaysiakini, the government is seeking a total RM1,427,915.45 in taxes and penalties for the assessment years 2018 and 2019.

The plaintiff claimed that the businessperson failed to file an income declaration form (Borang Nyata Pendapatan) for the 2019 assessment year, on or before June 30 last year.

The government contended that as a result, they had sent an assessment notice to him for RM918,079.23 for the 2019 assessment year.

The plaintiff, through IRB, had also then imposed an additional assessment for the year 2018 of RM380,025.73 against Zaidi.

The government claimed that it had sent the assessment notices for 2018 and 2019, which are both dated March 7 this year, to the defendant at his last known address at the material time.

The plaintiff alleged that due to the defendant’s purported failure to pay the assessments within 30 days per Section 103 of the Income Tax Act 1967, penalties of 10 percent (of RM38,002.57 and RM91,807.92 for the 2018 and 2019 assessment notices respectively), were imposed.

The government claimed that until now, Zaidi has failed to pay the total owed income tax of RM1.4 million allegedly owed to the plaintiff.

Besides the RM1,427,915.45, the government also seeks five percent annual interest on the amount which is calculated from the date of judgment to date of realisation; costs; and any other relief deemed fit by the court.

According to the online cause list, the tax suit is fixed for e-review (conducted online) case management before the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registry.

The legal action has also been fixed for further case management on Nov 22 to update the court on the status of service of cause papers on Zaidi.

Malaysiakini is attempting to reach out to the legal teams for IRB and Zaidi over the matter. - Mkini