LHDN urged to review income tax payment system for medical practitioners

Health Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said the LHDN and the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) should discuss the best way to find a solution to the matter.

He said it was common practice for doctors in the private sector to form a private limited companies to offer their services and declare their income under the company.

"Sometimes they have directors of a company who receive remuneration and this has been in practice for a long time.

"However, now, I have been made aware there has been a change. So, this may be the cause of why the problem exists" he told reporters after launching the 'I Want to be Healthy Camp' at the Orang Asli settlement in Kampung Leryar, Pos Menson near here, today.

Subramaniam was commenting on a newspaper report today which claimed 3,001 doctors were found to have been grossly evading their income tax.

Yesterday, IRB's chief executive officer Datuk Sabin Samitah said 2,229 of the specialist doctors detected had come forward to make their declarations voluntarily with the net amount of tax and penalties imposed totaling about RM400 million.

He said the remaining individuals would be audited in the near future, and included under the Monitoring Deliberate Tax Defaulters (MDTD) list if the audits found that they did not comply with their tax payments.