Malaysia — Taxes
- Territorial tax: foreign-source income is generally exempt for individuals
- Local income is taxed progressively, up to 30%
- No inheritance tax and no general capital gains tax on shares
- Corporate income tax is 24%
- MM2H is a residence visa, not a route to citizenship
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.
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What we do for you
Citizenship or residence, the honest answer often is not the one you arrived with. We take the whole procedure with you — eligibility, the route that fits your situation, the file, the follow-up — with one person on your side throughout.
For Malaysia specifically, you are talking to someone who already knows the file: who to speak to on the ground, what the unit actually asks for, and the points where applications stall.
- One point of contact, from the first call to the certificate
- Vetted partners on the ground — law firms, licensed agents, banks — introduced, not listed
- It starts with a short qualifying call, and no, it is not a sales call
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