The Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (IRB) has given an assurance that details of taxpayers' bank accounts will not be divulged but will only be used to facilitate tax refunds.

Its Corporate Services Department director, Marina A. Aziz said the IRB is confident that the recently introduced tax refund voucher system (BBBC) would reduce the number of individual taxpayers who do not furnish bank account details from the 350,000‎ last year.

The voucher system replaces the earlier system of tax refunds by cheque.

"The BBBC is meant to be an alternative that is faster, more effective and cheaper, and we have also introduced EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)," she told reporters at a LHDN-CTIM forum here today.

Marina said IRB will conduct awareness campaigns to encourage taxpayers to disclose their bank account details while stressing that the information will be safeguarded.

The present refund system for taxpayers who do not furnish bank account details by cheque has been abused, including by taxpayers who give false addresses or incomplete information, resulting in cheques being returned to IRB, she said.

Last year, five cases of cheating and attempts to cheat were recorded, involving tax refunds of almost RM200,000, she said, adding that the BBBC would also help to reduce the cost of producing the cheques amounting to about RM250,000 a year.

The vouchers, which are safeguarded by a biometric system, may be redeemed at a CIMB branch or banked into a CIMB account but are not exchangeable with goods, she said.

The BBBC will be implemented in stages, with the first phase involving refunds to individual taxpayers who are Malaysian civilians with identity cards.