Malaysia — Taxes

Territorial tax, with a long exemption Malaysia taxes individuals on a territorial basis, and foreign-source income received by individuals is generally exempt — an exemption legislated to run to 2036. For someone whose income comes from abroad, that is the substance behind the lifestyle appeal.

Local income and other taxes Malaysian-source income is taxed progressively, up to 30%. Corporate income tax is 24%, and there is no general capital gains tax on shares (though a real property gains tax applies to property) and no inheritance tax. A Sales and Service Tax applies instead of a VAT.

What MM2H is — and is not MM2H is a long-stay residence visa, valid five to twenty years by tier, backed by a fixed deposit and a property purchase. It is not a route to a Malaysian passport: the country does not naturalise MM2H holders. Judge it as a stable, low-tax Asian base, not a citizenship plan.

Residency, tax residence and duties elsewhere Holding MM2H does not automatically make you Malaysian tax-resident — that turns on 182 days in a year — and it does not remove obligations to a country that taxes on citizenship, such as the United States. Compare it with Thailand’s LTR visa and the zero-tax Gulf option of the UAE, read our tax hub and residency hub, and see how each figure is checked in our methodology.