Just saw the news last week. Public Bank got hit with a RM90 million fine because of leaked banking details from a cattle farming company.

We’re not in banking, but this case is a big reminder for all of us doing tax work.

In fact, this question always pops up, especially from younger tax team members:

“The outgoing tax agent refuses to pass the tax documents to the new tax agent. Can or not?”

Honestly? It’s one of those grey areas in our line. But here’s one thing I can confirm:

✔️ The tax documents belong to the client (taxpayer)
✔️ The duty to protect those documents? That one falls on us the tax agent.

Here’s how the law spells it out:

✔️Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA 2010)
Section 8 says we, as data holders (yes, tax agents included), must properly protect and handle client information. Simply leaking or sharing it without permission? Illegal.

✔️Income Tax Act 1967 Section 152
Strict confidentiality rules apply. You can’t pass taxpayer information to others unless the taxpayer gives written consent.

So based on both the law and good practice:

✔️The taxpayer has full rights to request their own tax documents
✔️But we (outgoing tax agent) don’t have to give the documents directly to the new tax agent unless there’s proper written authorization
✔️ Passing tax records to third parties even a new agent without consent? Very risky. You kena later, nobody can help you

Let me be transparent. Here’s how I handle these situations:

✔️I always ask for a proper consent letter. To be honest, in Malaysia, quite rare to get.
✔️No consent? I pass the documents straight to the client, never to the new tax agent.
✔️ For my own protection, I keep copies of key documents — just in case got dispute later.

To sum it up:

The documents belong to the client.
The risk belongs to us.

So don’t simply hand over documents just to avoid “麻烦” (trouble).
And definitely don’t break the law just because “everyone does it that way”.

What about your practice?