KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 2 — For oil-producing Malaysian government to reach its targeted RM10 billion in tax revenue this year is extremely "optimistic”, a tax advisory firm said today.

Taxand Malaysia added that even if the global crude oil price was to remain stable and not dip further than expected, the global economic situation posed various uncertainties to achieve this figure.

"We are in dangerous waters because even if oil price remains and everything else falls, we will not achieve this RM10 billion tax income,” its chairman Dr Veerinderjeet Singh told a new conference here.

He further indicated that such a prediction would ostensibly result in a budget recalibration by the middle of 2017.

"The way we see it, the expectation is very optimistic and the government will eventually have a budget recalibration by the first or second quarter of 2017 when the data and figures start flowing in,” he said.

Although the government has achieved almost 70 per cent in income tax collection in September, Veerinderjeet said, with current global economic challenges the country faced, it was unlikely to achieve the desired revenue by year end.

According to the Ministry of Finance, RM11.2 billion in income tax revenue is expected in 2017, an increase of about RM1 billion expected this year.

A budget recalibration, Veerinderjeet said, was necessary to ensure projects planned for the development in the country were not affected.

"Some cuts can be made by the government today… in fact, we expected the reconsolidation of several ministries with conflicting duties,” he said.

Other measures, Veerinderjeet said was for the government to impose a stricter enforcement in collecting tax.

Currently, he said many, including small and medium enterprises evade paying taxes while some under declare their profits to the Inland Revenue Board.

"The government should be strict on them and ensure a proper collection system for all without encroaching the Personal Data Protection Act,” he said, without elaborating further.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced an expenditure budget of RM260.8 billion for 2017 last month.

Of this budget, 43.1 per cent or RM10.2 billion is estimated to be generated from income taxes, this year.

Taxand Malaysia is a firm that specialises in providing tax services, including structure design, planning and implementation, corporate reorganisation and tax risk management reviews.