INDIVIDUALS not carrying on a business will need to file their personal tax returns latest by May 15. It must be done electronically as manual filing is no longer allowed. Missing this deadline will trigger penalties.

Under the Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) operational guidelines, the penalty rates could range from 15% of your tax payable if your tax return is filed within one year from the due date, and it will increase to 30% in the second year and to 45% thereafter. In practice, the late filing penalty starts at RM200. If there are any unpaid taxes after May 15, there will be an additional penalty of 10% on the outstanding taxes. Delaying the filing of your returns beyond May 15 is expensive.