Speaker : Mr. Mike Grover
Profile : Tax Specialist, Senior Partner of Ernst & Young in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, China, Hong Kong & Australia
Topics : Labuan Tax Efficiency and Wealth Planning for Malaysians
Q1: For Expats and their underlying tax issues
A1: it’s common for expats coming to Malaysia marrying the locals, when they decide to return to their home country. When the expats pass away, his transfer of estate to his Malaysian wife is not exempted from tax. The Malaysian spouse will suffer from huge losses paying inheritance tax. In UK, it’s 40%!!!
To avoid heavy taxes, the recommendation is to place the assets into trust, so that the wife can then enjoy the inheritance tax free.
Q2: We all thought Malaysians are not subjected to inheritance tax, but why you say Malaysians fall into paying inheritance tax if we own property overseas?
A2: Malaysians do not need to pay inheritance tax but if their property is located in countries that has inheritance tax, they are subjected to PAY the TAX. WOW !!! THIS IS SOOO DISTURBING TO ME NOW.”
However, the inheritance tax does not apply to movable assets (shares, cash, unit trust etc)
It’s so simple to side step and avoids the tax – plan ahead and structures your assets
Key point: there’s a time to make money, there’s a time to protect your money. Plan ahead to protect your money from the claws of the IRB.
About the Guest Author:
Evanna Phoon is the “Most Sought After Rockwills Will & Trust Specialist”. Her website is www.malaysiawills.com, where anyone can register for FREE SEMINARS on Will Writing & Trust and watch FREE Video Education Series to help increase awareness of Will, Trust and Estate Planning services in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.
She had done over 200+ video blogs on the topic of Will, Trust, Funeral & Bereavement care and Estate Planning. She was invited as a speaker at International World Bloggers Summit 2011@PWTC, Rockwills CEO achiever´s congress, Negeri Sembilan Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Malaysia SME Business Networking Seminar.
Evanna writes regularly for Malaysia SME newspaper and two Chinese medium magazines “mystudy.my” and QiJi.
Prior to joining the financial planning industry, she worked for a few years as an electronics engineer with Intel, Freescale, Motorola and Western Digital. While still studying in the university, she appeared in billboards and did catwalk modeling. She was Miss Astro Chinese International Finalist 1998/99 and had won Miss Sunway Beauty Pageant title in Year 1999. She is currently married with two children and love to spend her time mountain biking and outdoor sports with her family.
