Many graduates are having a hard time repaying their PTPTN loans.
The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) deputy chief executive Mastura Mohd Khalid told The Star that the corporation will be RM76bil in debt by 2040 if they continue deferring loan repayments for those who earn less than RM 4,000 a month.
In response to this, the government has initiated a tax relief programme for bosses to assist in the repayment of their workers’ PTPTN loans. Running from August to December, private companies will receive incentives in the form of ringgit-to-ringgit tax relief when they repay their employees’ PTPTN debts. The move however was welcomed less than enthusiastically, due in part to the fact that some companies are not doing well enough to sustain this extra burden.
Photo: Says.com
The fund’s chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan told Free Malaysia Today that only six companies had paid around RM98,000 as of now.
MEF executive director Shamsudin Bardan added that employers are not willing to pay their staff’s loans because these agreements were signed with PTPTN and not the companies. “Asking an employer to pay the student loan may be a burden, especially if the company was not part of the deal at that time,” he told FMT.
He suggested that companies help by including the calculations in their employees’ income tax deductions, effectively deducting a bigger sum to include the PTPTN loan repayment and PTPTN will be able to collect the amount from the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).
Regarding low-income earners, Shamsudin suggested they open a file with LHDN so as to decide a fair amount for deduction from their salaries for the loan repayments.
How are you handling your loan repayments?
By: Celestine Foo
