Irb Obtains Summary Judgment In Tax Suit Against Shafee

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The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has obtained a summary judgment (verdict without full trial) in its lawsuit for veteran lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to pay taxes.
However, the Kuala Lumpur High Court today deferred to next week the final amount that Shafee needed to pay to the tax authority.
Judicial commissioner Roz Mawar Rozain said that the court is bound by the Federal Court's decision earlier this year which dismissed an appeal by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak over RM1.69 billion in assessed tax and penalties.
In that apex court matter, Najib had sought to be allowed to file a statement of defence against the IRB’s tax suit against him, which would have required a full trial rather than the summary judgment that the tax authority had previously obtained against the former finance minister.
As Roz Mawar was about to pronounce the amount that Shafee needed to pay IRB, his lawyer Rajan Navaratnam informed the court that there has been ‘new development’ in the matter.
The IRB’s legal representative, senior revenue counsel Norhisham Ahmad, confirmed with the civil court about the new development about how much Shafee has to pay.
The legal representatives for both IRB and Shafee are finalising the amount.
Roz Mawar then deferred her pronouncement of the tax amount to Monday next week.
Back on Dec 4, it was reported that Shafee and the tax authority were in discussion on resolving the tax matter.
On May 6, 2021, the IRB filed the suit to recover over RM9,414,708.32 in income tax arrears (which included penalties) from Shafee.
The tax authority claimed the lawyer failed to pay the owed income tax for the Assessment Years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, which included an increase in the imposed sum. - Mkini

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