Today (6 April 2020), Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Prime Minister of Malaysia, addressed the public and revealed a Stimulus Package of RM10 Billion.
Here are the highlights of the Prime Minister’s speech on Monday (April 6):
* The government will increase the wage subsidy of RM600 monthly for employers from RM5.9bil announced on March 27 to RM13.8bil, an additional RM7.9bil.
– For companies that employ more than 200 people, the number of workers who will be eligible for the subsidy is increased from 100 previously to 200.
– For companies that employ between 76-200 employees, workers are eligible for an RM800 subsidy.
– For companies that employ between 1-76 employees, workers are eligible for an RM1,200 subsidy.
The aid comes with a condition that employers must retain their staff for at least six months.
* The creation of a RM2.1bil Prihatin Special Grant for all SME companies that qualify.
* The Government will provide a Special Grant of RM3,000 to each company, and is expected to benefit nearly 700,000 micro SMEs nationwide. These SMEs must register with the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to enjoy this facility. The government will obtain a list of eligible SMEs from the Local Authorities and Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).
* The government will be abolishing the 2% interest rate for the RM500mil Micro Credit Scheme under Bank Simpanan Nasional.
* The micro loan scheme for micro businesses extended to Tekun Nasional with a maximum loan limit of RM10,000 per company at no interest. For this purpose, a sum of RM200 million will be provided. Applicants can only choose from one of these schemes.
* The government has agreed to encourage negotiations between employers and employees on the terms of their employment, including the option to deduct salaries, and to allow unpaid leave during the MCO.
Employers and employees can refer to the Labour Department to obtain advise in regards to any problems arising from a resolution. Negotiations have to be based on employment laws of the country.
* The government has granted an automatic moratorium of 30 days to allow companies to submit statutory documents to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) from the last date of the MCO.
* The filing of the companies financial statements is also extended for three months from the last date of the MCO. The flexibility is given to companies with financial years ending Sept 30 until Dec 31. Companies will have to apply for this flexibility from SSM and no late charges will be charged.
The government has appealed to owners of private premises to reduce rental rates for to SMEs during the MCO and three months after it ends.
– They will be given additional tax deductions equal to the amount of rent reduction from April to June. This is subject to the condition that they reduce the rental by at least 30% during that period.
With the implementation of the Movement Control Order 2nd phase from 1st April to 14th April, it is strongly advised that all companies and their employees adhere to the following:
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WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today urged taxpayers to be on the lookout for a surge of calls and email phishing attempts about the Coronavirus, or COVID-19. These contacts can lead to tax-related fraud and identity theft.
“We urge people to take extra care during this period. The IRS isn’t going to call you asking to verify or provide your financial information so you can get an economic impact payment or your refund faster,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. “That also applies to surprise emails that appear to be coming from the IRS. Remember, don’t open them or click on attachments or links. Go to IRS.gov for the most up-to-date information.”
Taxpayers should watch not only for emails but text messages, websites and social media attempts that request money or personal information.
“History has shown that criminals take every opportunity to perpetrate a fraud on unsuspecting victims, especially when a group of people is vulnerable or in a state of need,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Don Fort. “While you are waiting to hear about your economic impact payment, criminals are working hard to trick you into getting their hands on it. The IRS Criminal Investigation Division is working hard to find these scammers and shut them down, but in the meantime, we ask people to remain vigilant.”
Don’t fall prey to Coronavirus tricks; retirees among potential targets
The IRS and its Criminal Investigation Division have seen a wave of new and evolving phishing schemes against taxpayers. In most cases, the IRS will deposit economic impact payments into the direct deposit account taxpayers previously provided on tax returns. Those taxpayers who have previously filed but not provided direct deposit information to the IRS will be able to provide their banking information online to a newly designed secure portal on IRS.gov in mid-April. If the IRS does not have a taxpayer’s direct deposit information, a check will be mailed to the address on file. Taxpayers should not provide their direct deposit or other banking information for others to input on their behalf into the secure portal.
The IRS also reminds retirees who don’t normally have a requirement to file a tax return that no action on their part is needed to receive their $1,200 economic impact payment. Seniors should be especially careful during this period. The IRS reminds retirees – including recipients of Forms SSA-1099 and RRB-1099 − that no one from the agency will be reaching out to them by phone, email, mail or in person asking for any kind of information to complete their economic impact payment, also sometimes referred to as rebates or stimulus payments. The IRS is sending these $1,200 payments automatically to retirees – no additional action or information is needed on their part to receive this.
The IRS reminds taxpayers that scammers may:
- Emphasize the words “Stimulus Check” or “Stimulus Payment.” The official term is economic impact payment.
- Ask the taxpayer to sign over their economic impact payment check to them.
- Ask by phone, email, text or social media for verification of personal and/or banking information saying that the information is needed to receive or speed up their economic impact payment.
- Suggest that they can get a tax refund or economic impact payment faster by working on the taxpayer’s behalf. This scam could be conducted by social media or even in person.
- Mail the taxpayer a bogus check, perhaps in an odd amount, then tell the taxpayer to call a number or verify information online in order to cash it.
Reporting Coronavirus-related or other phishing attempts
Those who receive unsolicited emails, text messages or social media attempts to gather information that appear to be from either the IRS or an organization closely linked to the IRS, such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), should forward it to [email protected].
Taxpayers are encouraged not to engage potential scammers online or on the phone. Learn more about reporting suspected scams by going to the Report Phishing and Online Scams page on IRS.gov.
Official IRS information about the COVID-19 pandemic and economic impact payments can be found on the Coronavirus Tax Relief page on IRS.gov. The page is updated quickly when new information is available.
Sunway Group today announced a total commitment of more than RM 34 million to help Malaysia combat COVID-19. The commitment is expected to support at least 40,000 beneficiaries in total.
Malaysians are currently under a Movement Control Order (MCO), which came to force on 18 March, and was extended to 14 April by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday to curb the spread of the highly-contagious respiratory disease.
Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah said that the aid is to help Malaysians who need it the most to tide over the difficult times.
