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Is this the reason why we have so many white elephants lying around town?

KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 870,630 taxpayers overpaid their taxes by RM10bil in 2009, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein. He told Pendang Member of Parliement Datuk Dr Mohd Hayati Othman at the Dewan Rakyat that 838,644 taxpayers overpaid by RM8.6bil in 2008 while 654,606 taxpayers overpaid by RM5.4bil in 2007. Some 291,315 taxpayers overpaid by RM4.3bil in 2006.

He said as of last year, the Inland Revenue Board had yet to refund 150,757 taxpayers.

The board had also not sent refunds to 76,960 assessed in 2008 and 58,633 the year before. All tax payment would be kept in the Con solidated Fund, he said.

To another question by Putatan MP Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh, he said it would be difficult to provide figures on those who could not be traced for refund payment.

Dr Awang Adek said some 1.5 million taxpayers had opted for e-filing their returns.

“For those who did e-filing, they got their refund in one month,” he said.

He added that that almost 95% for the 270,835 taxpayers, who use the e-filing service during the first five months of this year and were eligible for refunds, got their within a month.

Dr Awang Adek said those who filed their tax returns manually would receive their refund in three months.

“There are about 3.5 million taxpayers but only two million are actively paying tax,” he said.