Income Tax: In This World Nothing Is Certain But Death And Taxes

2008 is coming to an end, and normally this is the time of year where I will frantically go through my income tax file to make sure I have enough deductions to declare come April 2009. This month’s Personal Money magazine has an article running on last minute tax-saving moves to make before the end of the year, so go get it at your local newsstands if you haven’t already. I’m writing about income tax because I found that I have an ignorant dear wife and brother who can’t care less about it. 5 years in the future, should IRB come looking for them to collect accumulated unpaid taxes, it will be me the miserably poor husband/brother who they will turn to, and so I’m trying to save myself the trouble here (hahaha!). I’m sure there are more clueless people out there too, so I hope this can at least help a little.

This is not an expert’s guide on income tax management, but more like an idiot’s guide by a not-so-idiot taxpayer who earns less than RM70K annually. It is just a summary on how I manage my taxes over the past 4-5 years I’ve been working, and I do not have any references; just some old fashion common sense. You may find it useful, or you may find it ridiculous, but I would certainly welcome any feedback if it means saving me more money in next year’s tax.

Well the first thing that people always overlook is the tax structure. How much are we exactly being taxed for our annual income? The table below is taken from IRB’s website here: http://www.hasil.org.my/melayu/bm_NO2_1_1K.asp.

Kadar Cukai Pendapatan Bagi Individu Bermastautin Mulai Tahun Taksiran 2002

Pendapatan Tercukai	RM	Kadar	Cukai (RM)
Atas yang pertama	2,500	0%	0
Atas yang berikut	2,500	1%	25
Atas yang pertama	5,000	-	25
Atas yang berikut	15,000	3%	450
Atas yang pertama	20,000	-	475
Atas yang berikut	15,000	7%	1,050
Atas yang pertama	35,000	-	1,525
Atas yang berikut	15,000	13%	1,950
Atas yang pertama	50,000	-	3,475
Atas yang berikut	20,000	19%	3,800
Atas yang pertama	70,000	-	7,275
Atas yang berikut	30,000	24%	7,200
Atas yang pertama	100,000	-	14,475
Atas yang berikut	50,000	27%	13,500
Atas yang pertama	150,000	-	27,975
Atas yang berikut	100,000	27%	27,000
Atas yang pertama	250,000	-	54,975
Melebihi	250,000	28%	-

Therefore by going through that table we can roughly estimate how much we need to fork out in tax from our annual income. Lets say we make more than RM50K annually, the first RM50K will cost us RM3,475 and the balance will be taxed at 19%. At 19%, for every RM1K that we make, RM190 have to go to big brother. Therefore it does make sense to look for deductions and exemptions from taxable income and try to get into the lowest tax bracket as possible. Let’s say we make RM65K annually and have RM20K of taxable income deductions, taxable income is only RM45K and we’ll be in lower tax bracket which only costs 13% after RM35K; that’s just RM130 for every RM1K that we make; a saving of RM60 for every RM1K.

Let’s take a look at the BE form. This is the form we, as taxpayers, will have to fill in every year to declare our income. Basically we’ll have to fill up 2 things: income, and deductions. Naturally we are more interested in the deductions part. The first part in deductions concerns donations and gifts. Nothing much I can say here, they practically explain themselves. If you happen to be those who do contribute to donations and gifts as listed in the section’s screenshot below, then it will benefit you.


Next is deductions claims section as shown in another screenshot of the section from BE form. Items that many people often overlook:

• Parent’s medical fees – up to RM5K. So far I haven’t had to. Do not forget your vitamins and fish oils, To’Burn and Wan Ju! No money in the world is worth exchanging with good health.
• Education fees – up to RM5K. This is another thing that no money in the world can buy. Education is never a waste, and knowledge is a lifetime investment.
• Books and magazines – up to RM1K, so start buying books! Do not restrict ourselves to just newspapers and the internet. The mind is like a sword, and reading sharpens it! Again, knowledge is a lifetime investment so Iqra’! Read!
  
• Computer purchase (every 3 years) – up to RM3K. For RM3K, we can gat a PC that will last more than 3 years, and after 3 years that we’ll be eligible for another PC purchase. Not bad.
• Net saving in SSPN (ONLY FOR THOSE WITH CHILD) – up to RM3K collectively, even if you have more children, so just max this up. I think this is a bit ridiculous. In my opinion the exemption should be at higher value, since RM3K can barely pay for a semester’s fee for a degree course. Oh well… government…
• Life insurance + KWSP – only up to RM6K. If we worked long enough, our KWSP saving will definitely exceed this so if the company already provide life insurance, having another life insurance is unnecessary; that’s my humble opinion. Additionally, do not fall into the trap of reducing EPF contributions from 11% to 8%! Working in the private sector, we’ll need every cent for our old age, so fill up that 11% form now!
• Education + medical insurance – up to RM3K, and this is valid even for our child’s insurance. Unfortunately to date I do not have enough allocation to enroll in any insurance plan. Small matter, since my company already provides quite a comprehensive plan, so I can delay this for a wee bit longer.
• Sports equipment – up to RM300. This is pretty recent, and it was not in last year’s form. It should be in this year’s form though.
• The rest pretty much explains themselves; individual, medical, disabilities, wife, children. Just do not miss out anything that is legit for claiming.

Finally, there’s the rebates section. Here, only Zakat column concerns me. The other columns don’t make any sense to me… yet. Zakat is classed under rebate instead of deduction, meaning whatever amount we contribute to Zakat can be used to offset any tax that we’ll need to pay to the federal government. This is where I play around with; to try to negate my income tax with Zakat.

Zakat is an Ibadah that is Wajib, a must-do for Muslims. It is a 'tax' system where more fortunate Muslims can channel their income and wealth to the less fortunate; therefore it is also effectively a form of charity. It also will go into the coffers of the state instead of the federal government. Zakat is 2.5% of our annual income which by right is much much lower than income-tax rates, but there are no restrictions in how much we can contribute to Zakat. Most people will make monthly deductions for Zakat, but I prefer to use my year-end bonus for it.

What happens every year in December after my payday is that I will check how much has been deducted by IRB through PCB (Potongan Cukai Berjadual) for income tax of the year. This exact amount is what I will fork out from my year-end bonus and contribute to Zakat before 31st of December to make sure I qualify for rebate in that year. That amount is always more than 2.5% of my annual income which is more than enough to fulfill Zakat’s rate. The way I see it, I hit 4 birds with one stone; I fulfill my Zakat obligation as a Muslim, contribute to charity, pay my tax, and channel some money to the state.

After contributing to Zakat, then I’ll start collecting my receipts and proof of purchases to see where I am in the tax bracket. If possible, I'll try to get myself into the lowest tax bracket that I can. This requires calculations and some common sense. For example, there is no point in looking to spend RM4K in deductible spending to reduce taxable income when the actual tax saving is just RM760 (for taxable income in 19% bracket; 19% of RM4K = RM760). That is why planning ahead is important.

I’ll start first by estimating how much of this year’s income that will make it into my EA form, then I’ll calculate my current deductions to see how much of the income is taxable. If I need to spend more than RM1K to bring my taxable income value down to lower tax bracket, then I’ll do nothing because the saving doesn’t justify the spending. If I am just short by a few hundred bucks, then I’ll maximize my books purchase, or make some deductible donations.

Once I am comfortable with my tax calculation, then the next step is to wait for next year’s month of April, get EA form and declare that year’s income. There will definitely be surplus in my tax payments from PCB thanks to my Zakat contributions and normally IRB will return them before year’s end. By doing this I'll hit another bird with the same stone; this is a hidden saving, which normally goes into my car’s road tax and insurance!

Now who says financial planning is difficult? :)