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An economic stimulus package was announced on 27 February 2020 to brace the country’s economy against the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Welcome to Tax Alert, Grant Thornton Malaysia’s newsletter on the latest tax updates and information.

The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (“IRBM”) has released the latest Tax Audit and Investigation Framework .

The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has recently released six Service Tax Policies setting out the amendments and approaches in relation to service tax matters with effect from 1 January 2020.

Acquisition of services from foreign service provider may be subject to service tax if it is a taxable service. Recently, there was announcement that this acquisition of services may be exempted from service tax.

The Service Tax (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2019 was gazetted recently on 23 December 2019. The main highlights of the amendment cover areas announced in the 2020 Budget and other new amendments, which will take effect from 1 January 2020.

The Labuan Business Activity Tax (Amendment) Bill 2019 has been passed in the Parliament of Malaysia on 2 December 2019

This Budget Adviser provides updates on the additional tax measures that were included in the Finance Bill 2019.

A guidelines on Principal Hub (PH) 2.0.

This Budget analysis provides details on various tax measures that were announced in the 2019 Budget speech.

latest gazette orders

The Service Tax (Amendment) Act 2019 has been gazetted recently on 9 July 2019. The main highlight of the amendment act is the introduction of Digital Service Tax which is expected to take effect from 1 January 2020.

Following the 2019 Budget announcement, the Income Tax (Deduction for Employment of Senior Citizen, Ex-Convict, Parolee, Supervised Person and Ex-Drug Dependant) Rules 2019 has been gazetted to provide for further deduction to employer on remuneration paid to employee who is a senior citizen, ex-convict, parolee, supervised person and ex-drug dependant.

The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) has issued guidance on reporting for sales tax exemption under Item 57 Schedule A, Sales Tax (Person Exempted from Payment of Tax) Order 2018.

Further to the Income Tax (Restriction on Deductibility of Interest) Rules 2019 covered in our Tax Alert dated 3 July 2019 to restrict the deduction of interest expense in connection with or on any financial assistance in a controlled transaction, also known as “ESR”, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (“IRBM”) has recently issued Guidelines on Restriction on Deductibility of Interest to provide further guidance and clarification on the application of the abovementioned Rules and Section 140C of the Act.

Following the 2018 Budget announcement and pursuant to Section 140C of the Income Tax Act 1967 [“the Act”], the Income Tax (Restriction on Deductibility of Interest) Rules 2019 has recently been gazetted to restrict the deduction of interest expense in connection with or on any financial assistance in a controlled transaction, also known as “ESR”.