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 tax on foreign income?

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TC-Titan
post Apr 1 2016, 12:45 PM

My Life for Aiur~!
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Joined: Mar 2014


QUOTE(shingyong84 @ Mar 31 2016, 08:01 PM)
Thanks for the quick respond smile.gif

Sorry to ask a silly quest.. how to define "NOT WORKING" in MY eh..?

Yes, I was based in MY more than 185days a year.
NOT WORKING.. hmm.. yeah, most of the time not in working condition.
Not tagging with any agencies. No working record in Malaysia..

My role is basically a middle-man/ art buyer.
To buy Malaysian Art behalf of my company in SG and sell to overseas clients..

So it was actually some other artists WORK, send me soft copy, and i export via email.
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From MY Tax point of view: U should be deriving income from MY based on your role/function as a middle-man/art buyer in MY. Since you are being remunerated for that role to your clients the income earned during your stint in MY shud be taxed here.

The time period of > 182 days only determines whether u shud be taxed as a Tax Resident or not.

Since u have been in MY for more than 6 months, I assume u have been travelling back and forth a few times and did not stay in MY consecutively for the entire 6 months.

If you didn't use any Professional Visit Pass or Employment pass to come in to MY for that 6 months duration, then it will be difficult for IRB to prove on your income derivation activities unless you declared to Immigration that your intention to stay in MY for X no. of days was for work/business purposes.

100% of your fees charged to your customers will be paid to your sole prop in SG?
TC-Titan
post Apr 2 2016, 08:05 AM

My Life for Aiur~!
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QUOTE(shingyong84 @ Apr 2 2016, 03:41 AM)
I am a Malaysian, i stayed in MY for more than 6 months consecutively except some minor travelling to Singapore to do some banking within a day.

I have a team of freelancers in MY who produced me artwork, and my role is just order them to produce and sell to 3rd Party in SEA.
All 100% fees were paid to my sole-prop registered company in SG.
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Regardless of whether you are a citizen or not, ultimately your taxes in MY depends on how long a period you were working and deriving your income from MY (> or < 182 days to determine tax rate based on tax residency), regardless of where you are paid and who is your employer or where your entity is officially registered or where the contracts were entered into.

You should mainly be taxed in MY, since you have established a precedence of working mainly in MY. Your passport entries and other business documents and emails should be able to demonstrate this clearly.

Cost for hiring freelancers is a cost to your business, doesn't change the fact on where you must be taxed in the end.

The only thing you need to be mindful of is whether in the past 2-3 years you have been declaring your taxes in MY as nil and declaring your taxes in SG with income. A sudden change in tax declarations would prompt/highlight to the tax authorities on your tax file(s). You must have ready on hand all the necessary documents to justify your basis for tax for both countries.

E.g
In MY: 2014 - nil tax, 2015 - tax at say 20%, 2016 - nil tax
In SG: 2014 - tax at say 15%, 2015 - nil tax, 2016 - tax at 15%

If you have been declaring your taxes in MY all this while with none in SG then no issue. Key thing is consistency. If you aren't consistent as per the above example, then you must be able to back it up with the relevant supporting.


TC-Titan
post Apr 7 2016, 12:40 PM

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QUOTE(Forum-Modding Newb @ Apr 6 2016, 12:56 AM)
This thread is really helpful!

I'm in a rather different situation. I'm a Malaysian but not in Malaysia, and by the tax definition I'm a "non-resident". I work in a foreign country and they pay me for my services, but I am curious to know this (in all cases, I work overseas)

Assumption A: I sign an individual work contract in this country with my employer, as an individual
1. If they pay me in this country, I pay personal tax here (which is more than 30%). That's obvious.

If employed in MY + working in MY = Taxed in MY. Pay anywhere doesn't matter.


Assumption B: I sign a service contract between my sole proprietor company & my employer
2. I have a sole proprietor company registered in Malaysia. What happens tax-wise if my sole-prop company bills my foreign employer (in lieu of salary), invoice from Malaysia for services rendered outside of Malaysia? What tax do I pay?

If contracted to work full time overseas = Taxed in overseas as you are paid for work that is being performed overseas. Whether you qualify there as a Tax Resident or not depends on how many days you were there. Go check what's the requirements for that country's tax law for individuals.


Assumption C: I sign an individual work contract in Malaysia with my foreign employer, as an individual
3. Next scenario, what if my employer pays me as an individual for services rendered outside Malaysia, but the payment method is TT to a Malaysian bank account?

Same answer as Point 2. Doesn't matter where the contract was entered into and where you are paid, what matters most is where the work was performed and whether you qualify as tax resident or not in that country. The only thing you must be mindful of is what sort of business entity you're using to do business(e.g sole prop, Sdn Bhd or Partnership) or are you transacting under an individual capacity (e.g via employment or as consultant using your name). Diff types = diff tax rules and tax basis. And you need to know if the country you are working in has a Double Tax Agreement with Malaysia or not.

I understand that sole proprietorship means that I'm taxed as an individual. But I'm unable to find information what happens if I'm a non-resident, no one seems to know which category I'm in. Do help!

Individuals that are doing business (self employed or those with sole prop), if tax resident then file Form B, if non-resident file Form M. The interesting part would be to determine which sources of income from your business/assignments need to be taxed in which country at what rates. 
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