Tax deductions proving taxing!

Good afternoon everyone,

Having followed some other threads on this forum, I think I am in the right place to have my questions / concerns confirmed!

My partner and I started a new job here in Malaysia in August (We are teachers). We came over early in July to set up our house and purchase a car and then went home for a few weeks holiday before starting our jobs here. At Christmas, we left the country for two weeks on a social visit, leaving London December 31st and touching down in Malaysia on January 1st. We were advised that two weeks is the maximum (14 days) allowed out in the first 182. We also didn't realise that the social visit in July (before our employment and visa was issued, would be used to calculate residency days for tax purposes).

We filled our tax return this April incorrectly as resident as opposed to non-resident as our school informed us that we had become residents in February, following advice from LDHN apparently. Upon visiting the tax office, we were told that we were non-residents for the year 2017 and furthermore, we were still non-residents as we had left the country in July (before starting our employment for three weeks, teachers holidays huh!) and again left the country at Christmas for two weeks. However we were surprised to find out that we were still non-residents in April (Contrary to what the school had told us) because we could not link 182 days from August to February as we were out of the country on December 31st.

What complicates this matter further, is that since the school told us we were residents, we have spent a further two weeks out of the country in April. So its now May and we still don't believe we're residents! We do not have a certificate of residence. However, our school has been treating us as residents from March and the Monthly Tax Deductions (MTD) are now in line of that of a resident (16% as opposed to 28%).

We may opt to leave Malaysia this July and in order to get the tax clearance, I imagine we will also be stung with a large tax bill for the months March - July where we have been treated as a resident when we aren't and probably wont be by the time we leave.

To cut to the chase.

1) Are we as the employee liable for misevaluation of the MTD? (Taxes borne by the employee)

2) Is there anyway to prevent this? We plan to visit the tax office and find out where we stand and we have a paper trail to show our school has misinformed us.

3) Can the MTD (Calculated by the employer) be altered back to non-resident status to prevent the back taxes later on?

Thanks for reading!