Kuala Lumpur - At least 900,000 Malaysians are guilty of not paying their taxes, prompting the government to track down the evaders, a news report said Monday.

There were an estimated 2 million people with taxable earnings in the country, but only 1.1 million are currently paying, Deputy Finance Minister Kong Cho Ha told parliament.

Companies fared even worse, with only 104,000 corporations paying taxes on their profits, out of the 500,000 firms registered, Kong was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.

He said the Inland Revenue Board was carrying out audits on workers and companies in the country to track down errant taxpayers.

"With stricter monitoring by the board, we will be able to increase the number of taxpayers and consequently, our tax revenues," said Kong.

Last year, the country's tax collection reached a record high of 90.792 billion ringgit (24.4 billion dollars), official reports said. (dpa)