KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 27): Maxis Bhd said its wholly-owned subsidiary on Monday failed in its bid to initiate a judicial review with regards to additional assessments with penalties imposed by the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).

The group said the High Court dismissed Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd's (MBSB) application to commence judicial review in respect of the additional assessment and penalty of RM140 million for the years of assessment 2016 and 2017, and RM71.7 million for the year of assessment 2021.

In a bourse filing, Maxis said that based on the advice of MBSB’s legal counsel, an appeal against the court's decision will be filed at the Court of Appeal along with an application for a stay of enforcement pending the appeal.

On March 31, 2021, MBSB was served with an additional assessment notice of RM230 million for years of assessment 2018 and 2019. Before that, on Nov 20, 2020, MBSB had also been slapped with a RM140 million tax bill for the years of assessment 2016 and 2017.

These brought the total additional assessment across the five years from 2016 to 2020 to RM477 million, which Maxis went on to challenge in court.

Shares in Maxis closed two sen or 0.50% lower at RM3.95, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM30.94 billion.