Unfortunately, this is something that we hardly can avoid. I remember being adviced quite a while ago that even if I did not fall in the income tax bracket, it was always better to file my tax returns anyway as one never knows when one might need to have the records handy.
It used to be quite a drag filling in the tax forms and I have to appreciate the effort made by the IRB / LHDN (Internal Revenue Board / Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri) in simplifying the forms and providing pretty good guide booklets over the last few years. The LHDN has also been providing an online tax returns filing system available for the last 2 or 3 years. Unfortunately, they were using a very irritating PKI infrastructure for identity verification that made filing returns online a mystery for a lot of laypeople.
Fortunately, this year, they seemed to have simplified the process quite a bit and when I used the e-filing system to file both my wife's and my returns, it turned out to be fairly simple.
The main challenge has always been in ensuring that the form is filled in properly, with the necessary deductions that one qualifies for dutifully put in ;). I was introduced to this free software that was extremely helpful in reducing the time spent in filling in my tax forms this year - the aptly named TaxSaya.
The free version of TaxSaya only allows for one taxpayer's profile and comes with a nag screen. That's not too bad, considering what you're actually getting for free. A registration key can also be purchased for only RM 20.08 (so much for rounding up to the nearest 5 sen) and unlocks some pretty cool featured like a tax-optimisation tutorial, a personalised tax record organiser and more.
Here's a little "bonus" for reading this post - some tips (26 in all) on how to slash your income tax bill legally (as in approved by the IRB / LHDN). :
- 26 Ways To Slash Taxes (zipped PDF)
So, 12 more days to submit your tax returns. Might as make the best of it.
If you liked this post, consider buying me some coffee. Suggested price is $1.00 for a cup and $10.00 for a 1 lbs bag (personally I am a big fan of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe).
Categories: Life, Works
digg | spymy | facebook | del.icio.us | netscape | blogs4god
Comments (2)
Hasbullah Pit said:
Bob,
May I know wheather your feedburner "Smartfeed" enable or not.
Posted on April 18, 2008 10:04 PM
Wendy Hor said:
Did my taxes last year and this year via e-filing. Hassle free, need not to fill up the particulars as it was brought forward from last year, just need to update the changes. Thumbs up for the system. Even the tax officers are very friendly particularly the chinese lady in the Teluk Intan tax department. Not sure if she's still around this year. Kudos to the tax department for being sensitive to put a chinese-speaking officer to assist the china-apek and china-asoh.
Posted on May 2, 2008 9:16 AM