Najib's daughter questions RM10.3m tax bill on income from hubby

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 27): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's daughter Nooryana Najwa (pictured) has questioned the Inland Revenue Board (IRB)'s RM10.3 million tax bill on her income, which she said were mostly cash transferred from her husband's family abroad.

In a Facebook posting yesterday, she alleged that the tax authority had labelled funds transferred from her husband's family, a home purchased using said funds where she is named joint owner, as well as 'wang hantaran' and gifts from family as friends as her income, following an audit that began last year.

"I had long ago submitted all the proof including detailed bank transfer documents that show most of these so-called income from abroad were transfers from my husband's family.

"I also furnished proof showing that my in-laws purchased a home directly using their funds from abroad.

"My husband's family then listed me as joint owner of the home.

"Somehow, this act of listing me as joint owner with my husband is now considered by the government as my 'income'!

"And this forms the bulk of these 'tax due' even though the payment for the house did not even go through me," she wrote.

She further claimed that even if payments from husband to wife were treated as income, these transfers should not be taxed as they are from abroad.

"At the age of 30 now and having spent many years studying and briefly working overseas, I have never operated any business in Malaysia and have never bid for nor received any government contracts of any sort.

"And I have never had thought that my husband putting me as joint owner of the house and money that my husband gives me for household expenses can be considered income," she added.

However, she did not blame the people in IRB, alleging that the charges were masterminded by politicians "higher up".

"Just like in the case of my father and siblings who have been similarly hit on ridiculous basis, many who know the details of the case are shocked and speechless at how blatant the government is abusing the laws," she said in a Facebook post today.

The Malaysian government as the plaintiff, filed a writ of summons and statement of claim through the IRB on July 24 at the Shah Alam High Court in Selangor, naming Nooryana Najwa as the defendant.

According to the statement of claim, the Malaysian Government alleges Nooryana Najwa had failed to submit the Individual Income Tax Return Forms to the IRB under Section 77 of the Income Tax Act 1967, for the years of assessment 2011 to 2017.

The Government of Malaysia said an assessment under subsection 90(3) of the Tax Act, including penalties, had been raised through Notices of Assessment dated March 15, 2019.

On June 25, the Malaysian government through the IRB filed a lawsuit against Najib, 66, demanding he pay RM1.69 billion in income taxes for the years 2011 to 2017; and on July 24, Najib's son Mohd Nazifuddin, 36, was also sued by the tax authority for failing to pay RM37.6 million in income taxes from 2011 to 2017.

On July 24, the IRB also filed a lawsuit against former Federal Territories minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, seeking RM57.17 million in unpaid income taxes from 2012 to 2017.

All three cases were filed at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

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