Tax reductions will ease cost of living burden, says Najib

Datuk Seri Najib Razak says today families earning RM4,000 per month no longer have to pay taxes, which will help them deal with the rising cost of living. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Najjua Zulkefli, March 9, 2016.

The various tax reductions for the 2015 assessment year will help the people to manage their finances and handle the effects of the rising cost of living, says the prime minister.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said many would begin to file their tax returns at the Inland Revenue Board offices or online.

“This is important to ensure that all individuals concerned have duly paid their taxes and received their returns besides avoiding leakages,” he said in his blog NajibRazak.com.

He said in the Budget 2015, the government announced several initiatives, including a reduction in the rate of individual income tax of between 1% and 3% and through this initiative, 300,000 people no longer had to pay income tax.

He said families earning RM4,000 per month no longer had a tax burden while the maximum rate of tax of 26%% was reduced to 24%, 24.5% and 25%.

In addition, Najib said in the Budget 2016 Recalibration, the government announced a special tax exemption of RM2,000 for individual taxpayers earning RM8,000 and below per month for the 2015 assessment year, as an additional measure to help the people.

Following this move, the government would lose RM350 million but at the same time, individual taxpayers would save up to RM475 and this would benefit two million taxpayers. – Bernama