PETALING JAYA, Oct 13 — The tax exemption granted to Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), which reportedly owes RM83 million to the Internal Revenue Board (LHDN), is because the government does not tax non-profit education-based entities.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the late approval for exemptions for UTAR was because the university is still under Yayasan Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR), which has not separated its commercial and education firms.
“The issue of tax exemption for UTAR, a Chinese university: What is our policy? We exclude all efforts for education that are not profit based.
“If a faculty is developed to allow poor students to study, to exempt tuition, we exempt taxes. For me, there is no problem, we just announced it because of the delay in approval, due to the fact that Yayasan TAR has not separated (its businesses).
“Recently, they asked to be given a year to implement the separation, but in the meantime, they are asking for an exemption for all approvals for the education of poor children,” he said.
Anwar said this in his opening speech of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia annual general meeting here today.
The Prime Minister was previously reported to have exempted UTAR from its tax disputes.
A Sin Chew Daily report said tax arrears and fines of RM83 million demanded by the LHDN of UTAR will be written off.
Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying previously said that according to the LHDN, UTAR was not granted tax exemption, unlike the UTAR Education Foundation, which received the exemption on July 1, 2003, in accordance with Section 44(6) of the Income Tax Act 1967.
— Bernama
