Self-assessment impact to individual taxpayers: evidence from academicians / Amirudin Ahmad and Rafizan Abdul Razak

Malaysia is currently implementing Self-Assessment System (SAS)in administering the individual tax law and regulation. Several studies in Malaysia have revealed that Malaysian taxpayers significantly perceived SAS to be a better tax system than Formal system. Based on general perception, Malaysians are always having a good hope for any new system which is implemented by the Government. It is questionable, however, as to whether the new systems introduced by the Government really benefit the public as a whole or not. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to study whether the implementation of SAS has brought success or failure in terms of fairness and the efficiency of the tax administration to the tax payer in general and academician specifically. This paper also intends to identify problems faced by the tax payer in adapting to the new system and to suggest possible solutions to improve SAS. Questionnaires have been distributed to academician staff from the main UiTM campus in Shah Alam and two campuses in southern zone which are Melaka and Segamat. The findings from the study suggest that academicians who do not have accounting knowledge are having problems to fill up the tax return as well as understanding the tax term used in the tax return despite their highly educated background. Majority of the respondents also agreed that they had problems to submit return via E Filing. Consistent with prior studies in general, majority of the respondents agreed that SAS failed to overcome problems which they have already faced in the formal tax system.