A rumour

… that the Thin Cap rule is on the verge of postponement or being canned.

Do they ever consult each other?

The news today is Baffling. Okay, news in this country has always been baffling. But this one gives the word a capital B.

First, they announced that there’s gonna be a toll rate increase come this Sunday. And then, get this… the PM objects… to a decision made “two or three weeks ago”!!

Now, the Baffling part. The PM then said that whilst the toll rate increase decision was made less than a month ago… “however the situation has now changed, and the economy has not become better as yet.” 

What the hell is he talking about?! What’s changed?! Okay, nevermind. The other point, which has now been overshadowed, of course, is that a member of his own cabinet goes through the trouble of announcing something which he then takes to the media to denounce. There’s also another, buried between the lines, bit of question to this Baffling stimulus-killing fiasco - Where’s the “this means the Government has been paying compensation for 14 months” money coming from? No. No prizes.

Technically, they’re mad!

And that’s my cue for saying I’m gonna get a bit technical for this post. But for those with slightly less tax background, a… well, bit of background.

Payments made to non-residents are subject to withholding tax if, amongst others that I won’t regurgitate here, those are royalty payments.

Royalty is defined in the legislation to include -

(a) any sums paid as consideration for the use of, or right to use -

(i) copyrights, artistic or scientific works, patents, designs or models, plans, secret processes or formulae, trademarks, or tapes for radio or television broadcasting, motion picture films, films or video tapes or other means of reproduction where such films or tapes have been or are to be used or reproduced in Malaysia or other like property or rights;

(ii) know-how or information concerning technical industrial, commercial or scientific knowledge, experience or skill;

(b) income derived from the alienation of any property, know-how or information mentioned in paragraph (a) of this definition;

I took the trouble to reproduce the definition because I’d like anybody with any legal background or even the layman on the street to try and find any remote link that payment for use of a foreign phone line would have to royalty. Anybody? Well, those idiots seem to see a link. If I wasn’t clear there, let me spell it out: They tell me payment for use of a foreign phone line is royalty.

Just so I could be sure they weren’t high on some sort of substance of their technical prowess, I ventured another question – What about payment for off-the-shelf software like Microsoft Office?

Wanna know what they told me? “Itu… kalau tak customize, bukan royalti, sebab itu sell to public… Tapi kalau you all buat customization, yang tu royaltilah…”

Now, do you agree with the title of my post?

The feelers are out…

… for Budget 2010, can ya believe it?

Really. The professional accounting bodies are sending out requests for the Malaysian taxpayer’s wishlist for next year.

What was in the newly gazetted Finance Act again?

Oh yeah.

Nothing yet.

P.S. I spent the last three days at our southerly-bloated-with-reserves-reducing-tax-rate-again-to-flippin’-17%-!!!-30-circulars-a-month-ASEAN-member-neighbour.

We flunked

Of course we flunked!

Seems our Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman declared he was “surprised and embarrassed”.

Personally, if they gave us a passing mark, I’d be “surprised” and… “positive our tax ringgits were used to bribe our way up that Open Budget Index”.

Interestingly, one key finding of the study is that “Less transparent countries share similar characteristics” -

• The worst performers tend to be low income countries and often depend heavily on revenues from foreign aid or oil and gas exports.
• Many poor performers have weak democratic institutions or are governed by autocratic regimes.

So, anyone up for the “this is an inaccurate reflection of how we do things in right-to-own-sovereignty-Malaysia, so go mind your own business” argument? Me neither.

New skill required: Telepathy

My letter to them: Sometime before January 2007 (I write too many letters to the authorities in my line of work).

Their reply: 6 February 2009.

And just so I can spend a day digging through the warehouse, the entire body of their letter states -

Dimaklumkan bahawa keputusan oleh Perbendaharaan, Kementerian Kewangan melalui surat bertarikh 30 Januari 2007 adalah tidak meluluskan permohonan tuan dan muktamad.

Sekian, terima kasih.

It’s quite amazing, the amount of information I can actually deduce from the above junk. In one paragraph, I think they meant to say that -

1. I made some sort of application way back then…
2. They probably forwarded the decision making task to the MOF
3. The MOF made a decision about my application more than 2 years ago
4. The MOF wrote back to them about their decision more than 2 years ago
5. They decided to write back to me about MOF’s decision more than 2 years later
6. And I’m supposed to know what the decision pertains to…

Know anybody giving classes on telepathy? It’s a new skill I’ll need in my profession.

Since everything else has been postponed, why not?

‘Tis a mini Budget, says the Finance Minister.

Where the previous administration had no follow up, this one has a different but similar theme…

And the theme is postponement.

And the bug is contagious. GST consultations for industries that were supposed to happen in December got pushed to January and then, February. In the month of February, the dates were flying about all over the already short month and now, there’s talk that some sessions could be postponed again.

In the private sector, tax courses organised in Hong Kong got moved to Singapore and then postponed to another date “a couple of months” into the future (read: indefinitely). Locally, one training course was also postponed, with no tentative date given.

Do we even need to go into politics at this point? Why not? A certain party election was… [fill in the blanks, this is getting predictable] to March.

P.S. Notice how the Finance Minister is grinning from ear to ear in every single picture taken of him in the last couple of days? Eeee… beh tahan.

Update @ 11am: GST sessions postponed indefinitely… again.

Spite the federal government by keeping the opposition states well funded

Translates to: Pay your property assessments, fellow Selangorians, Penangites, Kelantanees, Perakians (despite your current limbo) and… err… am I missing a state?

Anyway, February is the month for settlement of your assessment. That goes straight to the state government. Lets you keep your house and keep the state run machinery oiled. Keeps the opposition from having to beg for federal funds all the time. Keeps the shmucks in power from being all smug about turning down the opposition states their dues and requests when that happens. Lots of positive things. 

P.S. Hmmm… (pondering the message I should be sending to assessment payers of Be-End led states)

Update @ 5.30pm: Perakians, you have been betrayed. Plus, not to mention our tax monies are funding those froggies’ travelling costs to Putrajaya to show their still-dare-to-show-face muka tembok! Toads! All of them!