CYBERJAYA (March 1): Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) will raise its income tax collection target to more than RM150 billion for 2019.

Based on discussions with IRB chairman Datuk Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir, Lim said, the IRB is confident that tax collection could go over the RM147 billion target as set out in Budget 2019.

"The target has now been set higher to more than RM150 billion," Lim said at IRB's 23rd Annual Revenue Day.

This follows 2018 income tax collections increasing by 7.3% to RM147 billion.

Lim added that the special voluntary disclosure program is applicable to individuals who hold both foreign and domestic accounts, and that a "special offer" is in place where volunteers would only pay a penalty of 10% to 15%.

He added that as of Feb 21, 2019, more than 203,000 people voluntarily disclosed their undeclared income and have paid RM1.31 billion in extra taxes and penalties.

With regards to tax refunds for 2019, Lim said as of January, RM1.64 billion had been reimbursed as tax refunds.

"A total of RM1.64 billion in tax refunds have been made to over 32,000 tax refund cases, involving 18,215 company cases, 14,082 non-company cases and 162 stamp duty cases," he said.

The scheme was put in place to ensure taxpayers who have not declared their income do so, targeting bank accounts within Malaysia and overseas.