KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 – Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s share (TNB) will be suspended tomorrow (Dec 8), with effect from 9am, pending a material announcement. According to it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia Monday that the trading in structured warrants relating to TNB will also be suspended at the same time.
TNB’s shares closed at RM13.46 today, up six sen from Friday’s close, with 12.18 million shares traded. The Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water is expected to make an announcement on the revision to tariffs in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan between Jan 1 and June 30, 2016.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, TNB said it has requested the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) to grant a three-month postponement in respect of the payment of the disputed taxes while it engaged with relevant authorities with regard to this matter.
TNB assumed that the disputed assessments followed from IRB’s decision to disallow its reinvestment allowance claim for the years of assessment 2013 and 2014, worth RM985.57 million and RM1.08 billion respectively. It had claimed reinvestment allowance for the years of assessment 2013 and 2014 subsequent to IRB’s approval dated Jan 21, 2013, which in principal approved the former’s reinvestment allowance claim.
TNB said it not with standing this approval, vide its letters on June 17, 2015 and Sept 15, 2015, the IRB subsequently reversed its earlier approval on the basis that TNB is not in the business of manufacturing. The company said the reinvestment allowance claim was consequent to the heavy investment in annual capital expenditure incurred by TNB for purposes of expansion, modernisation and upgrade of its electricity infrastructure.
Based on the advice obtained from TNB’s tax consultants and tax solicitors, the company believed that it was entitled to claim reinvestment allowance. Additional assessment prior to the year of assessment 2013 did not arise as TNB had merely filed revised assessments to claim reinvestment allowance which would not result in additional taxes for TNB. As such, TNB has immediately commenced the appeal process to challenge the disputed assessments.
