KUALA LUMPUR (March 14): Port operator Westports Holdings Bhd and property developer UEM Sunrise Bhd have both had their respective judicial review applications to challenge the Inland Revenue Board's additional tax assessments rejected by the High Court here on Monday (March 13).

They are both appealing the court's decision and have applied for a stay of proceedings until the completion of the appeal process, according to their respective filings to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday. The appeals were submitted on the same day.

The IRB slapped Westport's wholly owned Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd (WMSB) with an additional tax assessment and penalties amounting to RM120.58 million in October 2020. Westports’ unit was issued the additional assessment over annual lease payments made by WMSB to the Port Klang Authority that amounted to RM299.9 million for the years of assessment from 2013 to 2018, as well as a deferred revenue of RM7.97 million for the year of assessment 2018.

At the time, Westports contended that the IRB’s interpretation of the additional taxes was “fundamentally erroneous”. “WMSB’s accounting policy and the treatment of the annual lease payments have been audited annually among the largest professional accounting firms since 2013 with no qualification,” the port operator said in a filing dated Oct 5, 2020.

Westports, in its latest filing, said the hearing in the Special Commissioners of Income Tax for this case has been fixed for May 16 and 17.

As for UEM Sunrise, two of its wholly owned subsidiaries — UEM Land Bhd and Symphony Hills Sdn Bhd — were issued notices for additional tax assessments totalling RM82.18 million in May 2021.

UEM Land was told to pay RM8.49 million in additional taxes for the years of assessment from 2013 to 2018, following the removal of Bumiputera quota and low-cost requirements at its selected developments in Iskandar Puteri. Symphony Hills was told to pay RM73.69 million more taxes for the reversal of tax losses utilisation for the years of assessment from 2006 to 2017. UEM Sunrise previously said there were reasonable grounds to appeal and contest the basis of the assessments.

While both UEM Land and Symphony Hills were granted an interim stay of the notices pending the disposal of their judicial review application, UEM Sunrise's latest filing only referred to the notices received by UEM Land.

Westports’ share price closed one sen or 0.28% lower at RM3.60 on Tuesday, valuing the group at RM12.28 billion. Shares in UEM Sunrise closed 1.5 sen or 5.77% lower at 24.5 sen, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM1.22 billion.