Monday, April 20, 2009

Make sure your tax exempted allowances are filed correctly in EA Form

In the latest revised EA Form for tax assessment year 2008 (Borang C.P.8A-Pin.2008), there are 2 columns for filing your allowances / perquisites / gifts / benefits provided to you by your employer.

Column to file taxable allowances / perquisites / gifts / benefits:
Item B.1 - Tip kasar, perkuisit, penerimaan sagu hati atau elaun-elaun lain.

Column to file tax exempted allowances / perquisites / gifts / benefits:
Item G - Jumlah elaun / perkuisit / pemberian / manfaat yang dikecualikan cukai.

Among the tax exempt items (not applicable to owner or executive director of the company) are:

  • Perquisite (whether in money or otherwise) provided to the employee pursuant to his employment in respect of: past achievement award; service excellence award, innovation award or productivity award; or long service award provided that the employee has exercised an employment for more than 10 years with the same employer (up to RM2000 per annum).
  • Gift of new personal computer and monthly broadband subscription fee (registered in the name of the employer) (in year 2008-2010)
  • Petrol card, petrol allowance or travel allowance between the home and work place (in year 2008-2010, up to RM2400 per annum).
  • Petrol card, petrol allowance or travel allowance and toll card for official duties (up to RM6000 per annum).
  • Allowance or fees for parking
  • Meal allowance
  • Allowance or subsidies for childcare in respect of children (up to RM2400 per annum).
  • Telephone, mobile phone, pager and Personal Data Assistant (PDA).
  • Bills for telephone, mobile phone, pager and PDA registered in the name of the employee or employer.
  • Employers’ own goods provided free of charge or at discounted value (up to RM1000 per annum).
  • Employers’ own services provided free or at a discount provided such benefits are not transferable.
  • Medical benefits exempted from tax are extended to include maternity expenses and traditional medicines such as ayurvedic and acupuncture.
  • Interest subsidies for loans up to RM300,000 in respect of housing, motor vehicle and education loans.
Make sure your HR filed your tax exempted items in the correct place (item G) in your EA Form 2008. If they are filed under item B.1, you might end up paying extra tax which suppose can be exempted.

For more detail, please refer to the Explanatory notes to Borang BE [Malay version] [English version].

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Up to RM300 income tax deductible sport items

Being proposed for National Budget 2008 (which unveiled on 7 September 2007) and included in the BE Form 2008 as tax deductible item D8C, an amount limited to a maximum of RM300 is income tax deductible in respect of expenses expended by the individual tax payer for the purchase of sports equipment for any sports activity as defined under the Sports Development Act 1997 (Akta Pembangunan Sukan 1997).

The sports equipment includes equipment with short lifespan such as golf balls and shuttlecocks, but excluding sports attire e.g. swimsuits and sports shoes.

So what are the activities considered and defined as sports in the Sports Development Act 1997? Here is the list:

  • Archery
  • Athletics
  • Aquatics
  • Automobile Sports
  • Badminton
  • Basketball
  • Billiards and Snooker
  • Body Building
  • Bowling
  • Boxing
  • Cricket
  • Cycling
  • Equestrian Sports
  • Fencing
  • Foolball
  • Golf
  • Gymnastics
  • Handball
  • Hockey
  • Judo
  • Karate Do
  • Lawn Bowls
  • Netball
  • Rugby
  • Sepak Takraw
  • Shooting
  • Silat Olahraga
  • Soft Tennis
  • Softball
  • Squash
  • Table Tennis
  • Tae kwan do
  • Tennis
  • Volleyball
  • Waterski
  • Weightlifting
  • Wrestling
  • Wushu
  • Yachting

Reference: Sports Development Act 1997

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Thursday, April 16, 2009

TM promotional RM10/month package for Streamyx user

If you are a residential Streamyx broadband user, here is a good news for you.

Currently, TM is offering a RM10/month telephone package to their residential Streamyx users. By paying RM10/month, you will get:

  • Unlimited free local calls to TM fixed lines
  • Unlimited free national calls to TM fixed lines
  • Flat rate of 30 sen/min to all mobile and other fixed lines

And when you subscribe to this RM10 Package, you will also get a free DECT cordless phone with LCD display.

This package is quite attractive as it can bring savings if majority calls from your home phone are to TM fixed lines (local and/or national, including faxes). However, note that the RM25 monthly fee is still applicable with normal Streamyx plan, and not applicable for Streamyx Combo package.

Note that this is an exclusive limited time promotion plan of TM valid from 1 April to 30 June 2009 only.

Click here for more information on the TM RM10 Package. It is advisible for you to read the Terms & Conditions page as well as the FAQs.

Hint: Click on the "Older Posts" link to continue reading, or click here for a listing of all my past 3 months articles.