Malaysian Tax Academy set to offer degree courses
The Directors of the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia have approved plans to have the Academy accredited to a university in order to offer degree courses. The announcement was made by the Director of the Academy Mr Adzhar Sulaiman while addressing participants at the closing ceremony of the 19th edition of the Taxation of International Transactions (TOIT) Course in Selangor, Malaysia. Details of the accreditation process remain to be worked out, including the time frame and the type of degree courses that will be offered.
The move to offer degree courses follows long years of experience that the Academy has had in delivering different categories of training. It also arises from the feedback received from tax officials who have been beneficiaries of training at the Academy. In preparation for this giant step, the Academy has been modernizing its infrastructure-lecture halls, resource centres, accommodation and recreational facilities- and strengthening the pool of its resource persons.
Many tax officials from Commonwealth countries have over the years benefitted from the training offered by the Academy. While some of these courses have been held under the existing collaboration between CATA and the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM), others are held under bilateral arrangements between Malaysia and individual commonwealth member countries. Under the latter arrangement, a number of tax officials from Sri Lanka and India are currently undergoing training at the Academy.
With tax becoming such a highly specialized area, the planned degree programs are welcome news to CATA members and it is expected that their tax officials will take advantage of this new development.
Addressing the TIOT participants, the Executive Director of CATA urged them to build on the relationships that they had forged during the three weeks in order to share their technical experiences going forward. Adding that the Commonwealth has a rich diversity, the Director encouraged them to leverage on these by using the "chat" platform provided in the CATA website to generate debate and exchange views on some of the contemporary and pressing international tax issues. He further encouraged them to make use of the resource materials that have been uploaded onto the CATA website as part of their continuous professional advancement.
The Executive Director thanked the IRBM, the resource persons and other staff of the Academy for their immense contributions that ensured the efficient delivery of the TOIT Course.
Ms Esther Koisin, the TOIT Coordinator, with resource persons, the Executive Director and the Director of the Malaysian Tax Academy, Mr Sulaiman