There's also another saying, "If you don't pay your taxes, the tax men are coming after your ass".

Such is the case for Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Owing a whole lot of money

The former Malaysian Prime Minister has been served with a bankruptcy notice by Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN), New Straits Times reported.

According to LHDN, Najib has failed to pay them a whopping RM1.69 billion in additional income tax arrears.

That is a lot of money!

The bankrupty notice was filed at the High Court on 4 February.

NST also reported that the 67-year-old now has to pay RM1.69 billion with interest at five percent a year between 22 July 2020 and 4 February 2021, with the interest amounting to RM45.9 million as well as costs of RM15,000.

In total, Najib has to pay the LHDN an accumulated sum of RM1.73 billion. If he fails to do so, LHDN will institute a bankruptcy proceeding against him.

LHDN, on behalf of the government, filed a suit against Najib on 25 June 2019 to recover the RM1.69 billion he owed after he failed to pay his income tax from 2011 to 2017 within the stipulated 30-day period after assessment notices were issued by LHDN.

Well, we guess he now has to sell all his luxury watches (and maybe his wife's handbags too!) to foot the bill. Tough times.

Malaysians and bankruptcy

While we're on the subject of bankruptcy, data has consistently shown that more and more people are going bankrupt at a young age.

Between 2015 and 2019, about 85,000 Malaysians below the age of 25 were declared bankrupt, a Sinar Harian article shows.

According to Hijrah Wealth Management founder and consultant Rohani Mohd Shahir, the main reason for bankruptcy at a young age is the "five-series" loans: personal, education, car, home and credit card.

"All the loans combined can easily bankrupt a young person," she said at the Wacana Al-Quran Siri 8 talk titled "Bankruptcy at a Young Age" organised by Karangkraf group.

Rohani also said that when she was working in the banks in the 1980s and 1990s, it was very rare to see people below the age of 40 being declared bankrupt, but that has since changed.

"Among the reason for bankruptcy among young people are becoming guarantor for their father's cars and some who go bankrupt because they like to be stylish and own more than one credit card.

"In fact, there was a point where 11 million Malaysians had credit cards and it could be said some young people had up to five credit cards," Rohani reportedly said.

Rohani said that it was worrying to see so many young people, especially Malay youth, going bankrupt.

"I hope young people will be more aware of such statistics and not get into so much debt at such a young age that they can go bankrupt," she said.