A tax prospect walked into my office years ago.
He didn’t even sit down yet.
First sentence straight to my face :

“Mr Koh, you got lubang with LHDN right?
You can kautim everything?”

I smiled.
Not because it was funny.
But because after 30 years,
this one question still makes my heart sink.

If I say “cannot”,
the reply comes instantly:
“But my friend said can one!”
Emmm …. which friend as I cannot recall?

If I say “can”,
then I must be a miracle magican.
And I know I’m not David Copperfield.

The truth is this:

The hardest part of tax work
is not the law,
not the numbers,
and not even LHDN audits.

The hardest part
is managing the typical Malaysian mentality …
fast, cheap, guaranteed,
preferably with a shortcut,
and always backed by a mysterious “lubang friend”.

LHDN is fully digitalised now.
Everything is online,
one click and magic happens?

But on the ground,
I ,tax agent, live in the real world.
I stand in the middle.
I want to help.
I want to guide.
I want to solve your problem.

But I cannot break the law just to make the process “easier”.

Not because I don’t want to help.
But because some things simply cannot be kautim.

The only real lubang that works…
is compliance.