ALOR SETAR, Sept 23 — The amount of tax owed by the Kedah Football Association (KFA) to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) has risen to RM10 million, the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting was told today.
State Tourism, Arts and Culture, Youth and Sports and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Committee chairman Mohd Firdaus Ahmad said the amount was obtained after the IRB reviewed documents related to wages from 2014 to 2019 in March.
“The review found that the KFA had PCB/CP38 (Schedular Tax Deduction) arrears (and) the total amount has risen to RM10 million,” he said in the winding-up session of the DUN sitting today.
Mohd Firdaus, who is also the KFA honorary secretary, said the amount included the PCB arrears of previous import players.
According to him, the KFA previously had over RM3.4 million in PCB/CP38 arrears, excluding the unpaid compound by the previous management.
Meanwhile, Kedah Mentri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor told a media conference after the DUN sitting that when he first held the post of KFA president in July last year, the association not only had salary arrears with their players but also owed the IRB and Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
“At that time, the state government managed to settle RM15 million in terms of the salary and arrears owed to the players while the arrears with the EPF and IRB were rescheduled.
“But when we wanted to get new player licences for the new season, we were asked to submit licensing documents required by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and Malaysian Football League (MFL) and were surprised by the new IRB claim of RM10.4 million, which is the unpaid income tax of the players,” he said.
He said that if the KFA failed to settle the arrears, it would affect the licensing process, which needs the IRB clearance for approval.
“The KFA operates for the advancement of sports based on the social responsibility of the sponsors and do not make any profit because KFA are not a profit-making business entity.
“Furthermore, these are all old arrears… currently there are no arrears. So, I have negotiated to write off (the arrears) due to their (IRB) past failure in not collecting what was owed to them then,” he said. — Bernama
