A study on taxpayers' awareness and confidence in administering self assessment / Ho Juan Keng ... [et al.]

Most taxpayers know the differences between the Official Assessment System
(GAS) and the Self Assessment System (SAS) and that for individual taxpayers;
the GAS has been replaced by the SAS effective from 2004. Although most
taxpayers agreed that both the taxpayers and the tax officers should be
knowledgeable in assessing tax liabilities, however they felt that the IRB should
be responsible for conducting the assessment as taxpayers are not confident in
filling their assessments correctly. They lack confidence in understanding the
tax laws and public rulings, and in keeping up to date with the frequent
changes to the tax laws. Under the GAS, more taxpayers file their own tax
returns as compared to under the SAS. Taxpayers are not confident that the tax
authority would advise them regarding unintentionally committed errors, nor
would the tax authority treat the community as honest taxpayers. They feel the
laws that give IRB six years to review an assessment but only 30 days for the
taxpayers to appeal against an assessment as unreasonable.