Tax Incentives in Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

Malaysia has a wide variety of incentives which include incentives granted through income exemption, by way of allowances or deductions. There are specific criteria and rules that govern the treatment of tax incentives. For example, where incentives are given by way of allowances, any unutilised allowances may be carried forward indefinitely to be utilised against future statutory income except for certain incentives such as reinvestment allowance and investment allowance for approved service projects which have restriction.

Tax incentives have been useful to a certain extent in the past to attract foreign direct investments into Malaysia. As the country increasingly develops and focusses on certain specific high value sectors, new incentives that are formulated tend to be tailored toward these specific industries in line with Malaysia’s investment aspirations.

The government is currently undertaking a comprehensive study of the existing tax incentive structure to provide a competitive, transparent and more attractive tax incentive framework.

COURSE OUTLINE

• Incentives for promoted products and activities
• Pioneer Status and Investment Tax Allowance
• Reinvestment Allowances
• Double deductions
• New incentives introduced in the last 3 years
• Practical issues faced by taxpayers

PROFILE(s)

Harvindar Singh is a Fellow of Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and is a member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) as well as the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia (CTIM). Harvindar was attached to the firms of PWC and E&Y as a tax consultant and is currently the Managing Partner of Harvey & Associates, a boutique firm that specialises in taxation consulting services as well as the Tax Partner in SCS Global Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd. Harvindar has more than 28 years of extensive experience in taxation advisory, transfer pricing documentation preparation, tax planning as well as tax audits and investigations and he serves as a Tax Specialist to numerous corporate entities such as SK International (M) Sdn Bhd and other MNEs and organisations. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Budget Commentary and Tax Information Booklet which is produced jointly by MIA, CTIM and MICPA. Mr Harvindar is a Council Member of CTIM.