Can evade punishment only in M'sia: Expert
Published on: Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Malaysian politicians who are fond of making controversial statements bordering on race and religion will not get away if they were doing it Down Under.Former Malaysian Peter Loh, an accountant specialising in Australian property investment taxation consultation, said this when asked whether he experienced racist discrimination or abuse in Australia where he live for decades."No, people there know their rights under the (Australian) Constitution and with smart mobile devices available now, it's easy to record any racist abuse. In the past, many bigot Caucasians were caught, severely fined and imprisoned for their indiscretions," he explained.
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He was in the State capital for a property seminar, one of the many events that brought him back to Malaysia for a few months in a year. The last time he was back for an event by SP Setia, a Malaysian property group developing its projects in Australia.Lately Malaysian politicians and others have made controversial statements such as asking Chinese and Indians to go back to their ancestors' lands and even suggesting that most Chinese businesses are dishonest."For Malaysians who feel intimidated when they first arrived in Australia, say to any offender that you know your rights and the offender's rights."Say I know my rights and yours, I advise you to retract what you said and apologise," he said, as the offender knows very well the penalty that the court can mete out when convicted.
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Loh said in his profession as a multi-lingual certified practising accountant for taxation consultancy, he has to be an Australian citizen.He has no regrets migrating to Australia with his wife who hails from Penang.
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"My daughter is a GP there. She won two gold medals – for oral and practical. As a parent, I couldn't be more proud. My son is a commercial corporate lawyer, but he is now a singer with the opera. My other daughter is also a lawyer specialising in media law, she defends publications against lawsuits," Loh said of the lifestyle, educational and vocational opportunities Australia accorded his family.As his practice covers a wide range of financial and taxation advisory, he is now more focused on husband and wife tax consultancy.On the benefits of using joint husband and wife names for property ownership in Australia, Loh explained that, "taxable income is reduced to 50 per cent. This can happen with capital gain on sale of your investment home. The ownership automatically goes to husband or wife on death of spouse and no stamp duty is payable."Loh said the increase in stamp duty to seven per cent is to level with the rate charged by other countries like Canada, also popular with foreign investors."Please note that if the property is in joint names of husband and wife, they need to have separate tax file number. There will be two annual tax returns that need to be lodged every year."Unlike most estate agents here, Australian real estate agents have to be proficient for providing annual summary of rental income and expenses for clients who need one."Request estate agents to provide proof of expenses with copy of tax invoices and instruct tax agent to prepare tax return for the period from July 1 to June 30 in the following year."Accounting fee is Australian $250 per person. Fee for tax file number application is Australian $220 but only once off.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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