Newsletter– Special Issue Valediction Page 6| Newsletter| Special Issue

The feedback from the batch about the whole pro- gramme was outstandingly positive. In the valedictory speech Associate course Director Sh.KM Mahesh expressed his im- mense appreciation for the value added in this attachment with the IRBM. He thanked the Members of IRBM and Indian em- bassy in for making the stay comfortable and extending a warm hospitality. NADT ree MalaysiaMalaysia–––– Truly Asia! Introduction

International Attachment and visit to select countries to receive inputs in cutting edge areas like International Taxation, Transfer pricing has become an integral and much looked forward to event by the officer trainees. The principal objective of the programme is to gain experimental inputs and understanding the tax system in certain other countries and their best practices. Malaysia is a country that has hosted the officer trainees of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) before and visiting Malaysia has become almost an annual feature of the training process. It was the hospitality of the Malaysian Tax authorities and its efficient tax collection systems in place that made the relations between the IRBM and NADT further very strong.

Moreover Malaysia is a relatively open state-oriented and newly industrialized growing market economy and has had one of the best economic records in Asia, PLACE PICTURE HERE IN with GDP growing an average 6.5 per cent annually from 1957 to 2005 so it be- THE CIRLCE– CROP PIC- essential to study their taxation system and its working .The inspira- TURE INTO CIRCULAR tional excellence of the academic and experimental inputs received by SHAPE the earlier batches of officer trainees has also played a cardinal role in this.

PLACE PICTURE HERE IN THE CIRLCE – CROP PICTURE

The journey INTO CIRCULAR PLACE PICTURE To, SHAPE HERE IN THE CIRLCE begins…... – CROP PICTURE

INTO CIRCULAR SHAPE , …...So the 64th batch of the Indian Reve- PLACE PICTURE nue Service became another batch to come to the beautiful land of Malaysia HERE IN THE CIRLCE– CROP and fulfill their pursuit for learning and to fully comprehend how the Tax sys- PICTURE INTO tem and processes work in Malaysia. With great anticipation the batch of 34 CIRCULAR SHAPE officer Trainees along with their ACD (Associate Course Director) Mr. KM Mahesh started their memorable journey for on 12th of November 2011 and reached desti- The NADTree Team . nation on 14th November to have new and everlasting memories of the visit. The attachment became so memorable that af- Editorial Committee Managing Editor Editorial Advisors ter its completion the probationers and faculty members had quite a lot to share all that has been incorporated in this special (Malvika Garg,Abhishek Sinha) R Ravichandran N Jayasankar issue. Additional Director General-II Additional Director (Faculty) (Officer Trainees,64th Batch of IRS) Sanjay Joseph Message from Mr.K.M Mahesh, Deputy Director and Associate Course DirectorI of 64th Batch : Newsletter Design: Ridhima Deputy Director (Faculty), “A memorable and fruitful inter action between the Officer Trainees and IRBM which left an indelible mark in the minds of the young officers especially in the area of professionalism and application of cutting edge technology for tax payers’ For any Correspondence /Queries, kindly contact Dr Vinay Kumar Singh , Additional Director ( Library), National Academy of Direct Taxes, Chhindwara Road, Nagpur— 440030. Tele-fax 0712-2584350; E mail– [email protected] service in Malaysia. It was truly amazing to experience the glimpses of culture, warmth and hospitality that were extended to (Printed by the Printing & Publication Unit, NADT, Nagpur for the National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur) us. The officer Trainees were all very enthusiastic and willing to fully experience IRBM and had interesting questions to ask.” Message From Mr. Praveen Kumar Page 2| Newsletter| Special Issue The unforgettable penultimate day in Page 5| Newsletter| Special Issue Deputy Director, HRD Malaysia !!! By Abhishek Sinha

“This attachment was a great learning experience for all participants. The working here seems to be highly professional and The call of the country which is the land of the exotic, the modern and the mysterious instilled within all of us a sense of ex- the officers of IRBM have high level of commitment towards the tax payers. I hope all enjoyed the visit and had quite good citement. The land which claims to be truly Asia was awaiting to be explored. After a comfortable air journey we landed at KL number of take aways. The best thing was that inspite of their preoccupation of shifting their offices from the main Jalan Duta Airport at 3:00 p.m. on 14/11/2011. The wonderful evergreen trees and modern-day monorail grabbed our attention. The Branch to they could hold wonderfully planned lectures by all esteemed speakers.” chilly weather of Atlanta was replaced by a wonderful tropical weather of Malaysia. Along the way to the hotel, lush green trees glistened in the heavy rain. The Renaissance Hotel, where we checked in, was one of the finest hotels. Here started our

memorable journey through the heart of Asia .

For the majority of the group the most fun filled day was our penultimate day in Malaysia i.e. 19/11/2011. After a prolonged breakfast our group set out to explore three of the most popular tourist destinations. The historic , entertaining and the MidLand Valley Mall.

Batu Caves had wonderful Murugan statue which towered over the surroundings. It consisted of three main limestone caves. We had a challenging climb up its 272 steps which took us to the main temple cave. The view of scenery beneath was breath-

taking.

When we reached at the base of Genting Highlands, we boarded the ropeway which was to take us to the top of the High- land. The view from the ropeway was unbelievably beautiful. Lush green forest below and hovering clouds above had their own unique story to tell. Gentling Highlands is one of Asia’s leading resort for recreation and entertain- ment. Here we enjoyed bone chilling and exciting rides. In the outdoor theme park and various entertainment hubs all the while walking amongst the passing clouds. The view was simply out of the postcards. Genting Highland surely lived upto its name and all of us had a great time there. About the people……… Lastly we came back to the city and visited the Midland Valley Mall Touted as one of the best malls of Kualalampur. Despite having al- Malvika Garg(Officer most exhausted all the money in shopping during the earlier days, our valiant shopaholic type of proba- Trainee 64th Batch of tioners dug deep inside their pockets to pur- chase last of the items in their long shopping lists. IRS) Thus culminated the penultimate day of Malaysia and left a lot of sweet memories in the hearts of the group members which all of us would cherish for the rest of our lives. “We could never anticipate that we would witness so many hues in a single country. Though all of us were familiar with

the but what impressed all of us was the way Malaysians have shaped this country in a short time period after inde-

pendence. People of Malaysia mainly consist of

native Malays, Chinese and Indians in different

ratio. ‘The human capital in Malaysia is highly devel- oped. The citizens are fully equipped with knowledge, they practice good moral values, and have a broad mind, they love their country and possess the physical and spiritual strength’, said the guide who received the batch at the Airport and truly in the next few days all the officer trainees felt that what he said was true.

The most interesting and inspiring thing that I felt about Malaysia was that women constitute the bulk of the work- force (almost 60 to 70 percent), occupy high offices and have a position of great respect.”

Page 4| Newsletter| Special Issue Page 3| Newsletter| Special Issue Summary of Lectures and experiences of rest Rendezvous with Inland Revenue Board of the days……..by Munmun Sharma of Malaysia by Suresh Lakhavath (officer Trainee of 64th batch of IRS)

On the second day we had sessions on online Information, databases and e-services by Ms. Mariam Mohd. followed by brief- Malaysia…truly ASIA. It really doesn’t feel like a foreign nation because you encounter an Indian every minute or two. The first ing on the role of IT system in developing and managing effective revenue administration by Mr. Abdul Manap Din. Also we day at LHDNM office was indeed memorable. Though the arrangements were in a make shift environment, the events of the

were briefed on audit procedures and selection of audit cases by Mr. Koay Chuan Seng. However, the most interesting lec- day were conducted with great care. The learning through the lecture sessions was indeed fruitful especially the introductory ture was of Ms. Hailenpajar Osman on Taxpayer services education. session and overview of IRBM organizational Structure by Ms. Ruedah Karim, Director, International Affairs Division, Depart- The third day in Malaysia started with a visit to Information Processing Department, Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur. Earlier the ment of International Taxation. department was at Jalan Duta but it had shifted to this place. The welcome address was given by the Deputy Head, Mr. The speakers chose to keep the sessions brief and more interactive especially Ms. Gan Lee Choo on overview of Malaysian Tax Mohd. Yousuf Harun. He also gave an overview of the functioning of the department. The department deals with the proc- system, and Ms. Fatimah Sulaiman on Jalan Duta branch. We found a lot of similarity in terms of functioning of the Inland

essing of returns and uploading of the data. He also talked about the different types of returns prevalent in Malaysia. After Revenue Board Malaysia (IRBM). Public Rulings by the IRBM was a take away from the classroom sessions. the brief session the OTs had the tour of the department where they we saw the customer service desk, Processing Centre all the staff and officers were from the Inland Revenue board. The post lunch event was a tour to the Collection Branch by Mr Hafizullah Muntalip and the One-Stop Centre. What amused me the most was the friendly interaction of the Officers with the common man. There was no trace of apathetic Officialdom in After the Information processing Dept. the group went to Malaysian Tax Academy at Bangi. We were warmly welcomed by the air. Great care was taken to make the Tax payer feel at home. The IRBM and their use of technology seem to have ad-

Director (Premier) of the Academy, Mr. Mohd. Nizom Sairi. He gave an overview of the academy and the training that the vanced to extraordinary levels. staff and the officers of IRBM undergo. The most interesting part was the three-level intake process i.e. at high school, at middle level and graduate level with each having different duration of training. The academy was green ,well-planned and

beautiful. It started functioning from 01/04/1995. Apart from training, it also creates tax awareness and promotes The One-Stop Centre is the Indian Version of the Grievance Redressal Cell though the former is slightly advanced research and development in the field of taxation. We were all overwhelmed by the hospitality. in terms of infrastructure, manpower and technology. A suitable arena has been created to facilitate the tax- The fourth day of visit to the Malaysian tax office was a combination of learning experience and out- payer to get ade- quate counseling regarding any difficulty he/she is facing with respect to the Tax de- bound activity. As a part of study visit the officer trainees were partment. Provision is also made available for the respective taken to (PJ) Branch which was a well established model branch of IRBM. Assessing officer concerned, to sit with the taxpayer at the One-Stop Centre and resolve the issue at the earliest .As the name suggests, the One-Stop Cen- Ms. Jamaliah, Deputy Director briefed about different wings of the PJ Branch which was opened on 01/04/1988. It covers tre is indeed a very helpful Stop to overcome Tax related issues. around thirteen economic zones with a work force of 234 officers and attends to 467 registered files . As our official events wound up, we took to the lanes of BB Plaza, Low Yat Plaza, Berjaya Times Square etc to catch up with We learnt about audit, refund, recovery, tax services education, enforcement and legal proceedings, tracing and registration shopping and life in Malaysia. First day I felt was the most memorable day in Malaysia. of new files, assessment functions, administrative and financial activities undertaken and also explored some of the best practices like single window, tax payers’ service counters and best of the e-practices. Overall visit experience at this branch was highly informative and enriching experience for the officer trainees.

As a part of the outbound activities the group was taken to the Petronas Towers, the 88-storied twin towers which is the most spectacular feature of Kuala Lumpur. Then the group visited National Monument of Malaysia, the world’s largest free standing bronze sculpture commemorating the martyrs.

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