Contributed by - Nadianauli Yaakub Edited by - Harris Ahmad Rosli

Introduction

On 1 November 2019, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) introduced two new methods for taxpayers to obtain information or resolve their taxation issues, which are the HASiLChat and HASiL Knowledge Centre (HKC).

The HASiLChat is an application with a live chat function that enables one-to-one communication between the taxpayer and the Hasil Care Line officer in real time.  The HKC, on the other hand, is an interactive system that offers search support for taxpayers to get immediate information. HKC works by giving answers based on the keyword keyed in by users.

Currently, there are 12 IRBM officers assigned to HASILChat. They are part of the 93 officers in the Hasil Care Line (formerly known as Customer Service Centre) who are in charge of customer service-related matters such as attending to calls, responding to e-mails and providing advice on taxation matters to taxpayers.

Both HASiLChat and HKC can be found at the e-Filing page on the IRBM official website  www.hasil.gov.my. 

Image 1: HASiLChat & Hasil Knowledge Centre icons

Image 2: e-Filing Webpage on IRBM Official Website

Using the HASiLChat

To start using the HASiLChat, a user has to fill in a simple form in order to obtain the taxpayer’s basic information such as name, phone number, e-mail address and question category. There is also a checkbox to indicate if the user is a tax agent. After clicking the Start Chat button, the live chat session will start.

Image 3: HASiLChat online form

Right after the live chat session starts, a greeting page from the IRBM officer who has been assigned to answer the chat request will be displayed:

Nisa

Good evening

Welcome to Hasil Live Chat.

My name is Khairun Nisa. How may I assist you?

Image 4: HASiLChat greeting page

During the HASiLChat session, the taxpayer is able to upload related documents for verification, confirmation or other relevant purposes. HASiLChat is available during the office operating hours.

Using the HKC

For HKC, all a user needs to do is type in the keyword of the question and click the button Ask. Instant feedback will be provided based on the keyword. The HKC can be accessed 24 /7.

Image 5: HASiL Knowledge Centre pop up

With the One Stop Solution approach, in 2019 alone the HASiLChat was able to resolve 93.2% of the cases brought up through it without the need to refer the issues to the relevant departments and branches. This has helped lower the number of enquiries that need to be handled by the relevant departments and branches.

Table 1: Percentage of cases resolved through HASiLChat in 2019

Contributing to effective communication and information channels during the COVID-19 pandemic

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysia has enforced the Movement Control Order beginning from 18 March 2020. This has impacted the opening of the IRBM offices. While some officers were still needed to be present at the office, a large number of officers were required to work from home. The IRBM premises were reopened on 4 May 2020. Prior to the reopening, there has been a big jump on the use of the new channels particularly on HKC. For example, in February the number of users was 10,138, while in March the number increased to 37,482 and in April the number leapt to 123,106.

The introduction of the HASiLChat and HKC came right on time as the COVID-19 pandemic has not only disrupted and affected the daily lives of people but also forced us to adopt new norms, which has seen the general public limit face-to-face interactions.  It is under this scenario, HASiLChat and the HKC proved to be even more useful as communication channels for taxpayers to obtain tax advice and also information regarding the distribution of national aids by the Government in which IRBM has been entrusted to manage.

Moving forward, IRBM is looking into upgrading the HKC to a Chatbot, with artificial intelligence capabilities that will enable it to communicate with taxpayers in a more human-like form. The upgrading to a Chatbot will be done progressively from 2021 to 2025. With this improvement, it will be accessible 24/7 and not restricted to human availability to entertain the taxpayers’ queries.