KUALA LUMPUR (March 27, 2007): The Inland Revenue Board’s (IRB) fairly new e-filing system had to endure a sluggish spell recently as it was - ironically - being upgraded to be faster. The e-filing system, introduced last year, suffered glitches on March 13 to 15 due to steps taken to ensure it is capable of accommodating more users.

IRB director-general Hasmah Abdullah said the problems were fully ironed out on March 21 and the public could now use the system more easily.

“The sluggishness of the system was due to the upgrading exercise to make it faster and able to handle a bigger number of users at any one time,” she told a news conference here today, reports Bernama.

The upgrade also involved the introduction of the new e-payment application that enables Bank Islam, CIMB Bank, Public Bank and Hong Leong Bank account holders to make payments through their banks without having to go to IRB counters.

Digicert Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Noor Azli Othman said during the disruption, users faced problems with downloading the registration certificate to enable them to access the e-filing system.

Digicert is the provider of the system to IRB.

“We are in the process of enhancing the system to prevent queues besides upgrading the data storage capacity and adding higher capacity servers,” he said.

On tax refund applications, Hasmah said taxpayers could submit their income tax forms with dividend vouchers.

She said there were 34,850 refund cases involving individual and company taxes amounting to RM607 million.

She said RM727 million were refunded last year to taxpayers using the e-filing system, and the total sum refunded to all taxpayers amounted to RM4.3 billion.

“For those using the e-filing, we have started the refunding process and they should expect to get it in three months,” she said.

She said those still awaiting their BE or B forms should check with the nearest IRB office to get them or surf the IRB website at www.hasil.org.my.

The BE and B forms should be submitted before April 30 and June 30 respectively.