WITH reference to the letter “Fine tune e-filing system” (NST, May 15), the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) would like to thank Mohd Faizal Abdullah from Kuala Lumpur for his suggestions and for attempting to use the e-filing system to file his tax returns.

As of February, 1,017,278 people have used the e-filing system. The figure shows a 64 per cent increase over the figure during the same period last year. For the whole of last year, 875,502 people used the e-filing system.

The e-filing system is entering its third year, so it still experiences unavoidable glitches.

In the last three days of April, some 60,000 to 100,000 hits on the site was recorded each day compared with a daily traffic volume of 2,000 to 3,000 during the early stages in February.

The congestion during the last three days of April was due to high traffic volume.

The message “sesi tamat tempoh” (session ends) would be displayed when users were unable to make a transaction within 20 minutes and they should log in again when this happens.

The process of tax refunds on previous years’ assessments for those who submit their returns manually takes three months from the date of application.

A main factor that contributes to the delay of the process is that errors are made while filling in the forms manually. Around 80 per cent of IRB’s tax refunds have already been processed while the remaining 20 per cent still need to be audited.

Mohd Faizal is requested to contact IRB’s hotline at 03-62031380 if he has problems with his refunds.

NOOR HELMI AZRUL MOHD NOR for Inland Revenue Board Malaysia

Source: NST – May 23, 2008