I just realized that Malaysia has no such law, Inheritance and gift tax, compare to S'pore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.

So whatever transfer from parents to children, from few hundred to few millions, will be tax free?!?

Yep, it is tax free although I believe you still need to pay legal fees and stamp duties when you transfer property from one name to another. In my opinion, it's one of the greatest forms of injustice in Malaysia and allows the rich to get richer, but that's probably a minority opinion, especially in this forum full of rich people.

Thank you for the confirmation...so there is no need to do the tax planning for the rich ppl

No wonder those rich politician continue to 'eat money' as they have no such worries

If you transfer property, you will be still subjected to RPGT, unless you elect to use a once in a lifetime RPGT exemption.

I don't really understand what you mean by not having a need to do tax planning for the rich, on the contrary, there is more room for tax planning for the wealthy generally.

There is no direct correlation between tax and politicians. If you 'eat money', that is corruption and is against the law. Has got nothing to do with tax.

---

Added on

Forgotten about no gain no loss transaction, so yeah, the RPGT will not suffer any tax if the transfer is between a parent and a child.


This post has been edited by legiwei: Jul 5 2010, 08:52 PM

how does the "rich get richer" following this logic, wankongyew?

if they have a lot of properties to transfer, won't they need to pay a lot of legal fees to transfer those properties to their kids/wives/relatives?

They indeed need to pay legal fee...so? How much is the legal fee? will it cost 50% of your property value?

Inherent tax will tax u almost 50% of the inherent value...government take the money in form of taxes and use the money to develop our country or help those poor...

So now, rich ppl not subject to taxes, thus government earn lesser...government earn lesser mean spend lesser on us, or cut other subsidies...poor man suffer in the end...

Lack of inheritance and gift taxes makes it much easier for wealthy families to accumulate wealth and pass it from generation to generation. Legal fees are no substitute. As TarePanda has noted, the costs involved are on a completely different scale. To add insult to injury, Malaysia doesn't even have capital gains taxes.

Please note that I am not a socialist. I consider myself a libertarian. Plus while I do not think of myself as being rich, I do have substantial assets. So imposing these taxes will only hurt me personally, but I support them nevertheless as I consider it justice. I find it particularly unthinkable that Malaysia would consider imposing a GST, a type of tax that disproportionately harms the economic interests of the less well off, while not having any gift and inheritance taxes at all. The irony of the situation is that the truly elite has successfully persuaded the middle classes to side with them instead of the truly poor in such matters.

Also, if you pay attention to other recent threads on this forum, such as the one about how much money you would leave to your children if you were rich, a significant majority also stated that they would pay for their children's education and give them enough money to get started with life but would not give them enough money to be rich. The rest of the money would be given to charity. I have my doubts about how many would actually go through with this if push comes to shove, but the basic reasoning is sound and seeks to achieve the same brand of justice.

This post has been edited by wankongyew: Jul 7 2010, 11:02 AM

I paid tax and i used the money to buy properties, and to give them to my children when i pass on. The money has been taxed before, and i see injustice if i have to pay inheritance tax. I became rich for a reason - because i worked very hard, and there's no reason to penalise me just because i have become rich. All this money's not corrupted money.

Well say, i agree that one become rich for reasons, hardworking, smart, etc etc....

But there are ppl are poor for no reasons...mostly because the environment and systems...

And it's no to penalize those rich ppl...it's to balance the society by re-distribute the wealth over poor family so that the poor got chances to get good education and thus our country become more stabilize and improve...

Just my 2 cents

Most of money from inheritance tax, if enforced in Malaysia, will not be re-distributed to the poor family but instead will go into the politicians-in-power pockets.
It's up to one conscience to allocate certain amount of their asset to help those in need, but it shoudnt be made compulsory.

If that's the way you feel, why don't you redistrubute your weath to poor people, "so that the poor got chances to get good education and thus our country become more stabilize and improve..." ?

Well say and reasonable comment.

But if look for another perspective, their siblings, children need not to work hard for the money, nor being taxed before, suddenly can get millions without a sweat, so the inheritance tax make a case in this issue.

I am not saying which way is right, don't get me wrong.

Also, if people became rich by working hard, garbagemen and hypermarket staff would be millionaires lol

The truth usually lies somewhere in between, and it's something socialists and capitalists can never agree on.

I would say no tax below 3 million ringgit. Above that, impose a tax with slowing increasing % up to a certain limit.

If you don't agree with 3 million, maybe you would like to state another figure?

This post has been edited by howszat: Jul 8 2010, 09:19 PM

Say the government were to go ahead with your suggestion to only impose tax above rm3 million.

Going by this suggestion, the general population that will be taxable will be low.

This means there will be a significant drop in the govt's income and will have to find ways to finance the shortage.

Whatever the solution is, the cost will likely be passed back to us, say inflation or loss of money value.

Something for you to think about. Incidentally, our very monetary system is built upon such shaky foundation, it was not built to be sustainable. But that is another story all together.

We are talking about inheritance tax, not income tax, aka if the parent passed away or whatever, and the son/daughter or beneficier getting the money one will be taxed on inheritance tax, on top of income tax that had been paid by the parent.

That's why i stated the political issue at 1st plc...

Such system will be only work if we have a clean gov / system



Erm...I'm not a rich person so i have no right to say "redistribute my wealth to the poor"

But I have promise myself to donate to those needy, if i have excessive income.

Of coz, Warrent Buffet and Bill Gates do inspire me to has this kind of thinking

So what if they get free money without needing to work hard for it?
These assets are not stored in cash at home. Its spread out into properties, stocks, businesses, etc that each has its own individual taxes.

The children/siblings would still need to work to double up the money.

How much income is excessive?

But if the parents willingly give the children the money without working hard, I don't see how inheritance tax is justified in this case.