KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 20): Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA) has received a new tax bill totalling RM1.39 billion from the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The additional assessments cover years 2020 (amounting to RM685.8 million) and 2021 (amounting to RM705.2 million), the utility giant said in a bourse filing on Tuesday.

This is not the first time TNB has been slapped with additional assessments. 

“The latest notices are similar to those received in previous years, which are currently pending in court. TNB has obtained an interim stay order against the payment of the disputed taxes,” said TNB.

Based on legal advice it has received, TNB believes that IRB’s assessments are incorrect as it seeks to appeal the notices promptly.

To recap, in 2019, TNB was issued a tax assessment totalling RM3.98 billion for 2015-2017.

A year later, in July 2020, the IRB informed TNB that its claimed reinvestment allowance for 2018 was disallowed and issued it an additional assessment notice for RM1.8 billion.

TNB challenged the assessments in court and won the two cases.

In 2023, the High Court granted TNB’s judicial review application related to IRB’s tax assessment amounting to RM3.98 billion. The court said that TNB, as an electricity producer, was entitled to claim reinvestment allowances on capital expenditures for those assessment years.

TNB also contested a judicial review related to the IRB’s view that it was not entitled to reinvestment allowance for 2018 with regards to an additional tax bill of RM1.8 billion.

In May this year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision, confirming that TNB, as an energy producer, was entitled to the reinvestment allowance.

Shares in TNB closed at RM14 on Tuesday, down 10 sen or 0.72%, giving the company a market capitalisation of RM81.38 billion.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/723561