KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 1): The electronic invoicing, or e-invoicing system will be implemented in the first half of 2024 (1H2024), echoing the government’s digitalisation agenda.

Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (LHDN) chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Nizom Sairi said e-invoicing would streamline and enhance the country’s tax system, promote transparency and give a more accurate compliance risk assessment.

“It will also address the revenue leakage issue resulting from the shadow economy,” he said at the National Tax Conference 2023 here on Tuesday (Aug 1).

He also said that LHDN has put in place the Tax Corporate Governance (TCG) programme to accommodate tax certainty.

“This initiative serves as a platform for both tax administration and taxpayers to collaborate in an open and honest manner, to enhance the organisation’s corporate tax compliance affairs,” he said.

Mohd Nizom said it is worth noting that the ongoing Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme 2.0 (SVDP 2.0) focuses more on getting new taxpayers to participate in reporting their income to IRB, than it does on increasing tax collection.

“It is hoped that this programme will ultimately help taxpayers fulfil their tax obligations to the nation, and support sustainability for generations to come,” he said.

The two-day National Tax Conference 2023’s theme “Taxation: Driving Force for Economic Sustainability” has been coined based on the importance of this fiscal tool in nation building.

Mohd Nizom said economic sustainability is without a doubt one of the key pillars for the country to recover, remain resilient and grow amid the uncertainties of the global economic outlook.

“Had we not been sustainable in our revenue stream, it would have been next to impossible to bring the nation out of the crisis we were in,” he pointed out.

Therefore, the necessity of taxes cannot be emphasised enough, especially in the current volatile environment, when the government is dependent on revenue from taxes, among others, for economic growth and national development, he said.