Yes you do.

Your rental income has to be declared regardless of whether you stamped your agreement or not.

The stamping of the rental agreement is more for eligibility of using the agreement as evidence should you have a dispute with your tenant. Nothing to do with whether you have to report your income or not.

Practically, you are correct. No one would know whether you rent it out or not, unless your tenant decides to report you to IRB hahaha. But do bear in mind that the IRB does have records of your purchase of property if I am not wrong.

The actual law for the tax relief says "personal computer". I don't think a tablet falls into that category but it's best you check with IRB's call center to confirm.

Yes. Digi smart plan for data qualifies for broadband fee.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Apr 5 2013, 01:52 PM

Don't think you need to report this. The amount in your EA form is for reconciliation purposes in case IRB asks why your gross income is X but you only report Y.

Really? I just spoke to assessment division at jalan duta and they said tablets didn't qualify if they have 3G capability. Only the wifi-only version qualifies. Who did you check with?

Borang B is your return form. You report your income using the Borang B. Borang B is for people with business income, e.g. Sole proprietor.

The CP500 is a notice of installment scheme. This form is sent to you to tell you how much estimated tax you have to pay every month. People with employment income pay monthly tax deduction. CP500 is for people with other income, like business income.

March - June are quite busy periods for IRB in terms of individual taxes. Expect a bit of a delay. But if you get your refund within 1-3 months, its actually quite good.

It would be best to go to IRB personally to confirm whether you should file a Form B (individual income tax return with business income) or a form BE (individual income tax return without business income). The reason I cannot give you a specific answer is because I don't know the nature of your arrangement with your contractor. Earning commission income on a regular basis can constitute a business. This is to your benefit because it lets you claim additional deductions in terms of your specific spending to discharge your duties (evidenced by receipts).

It could also be taxed alternatively as passive non-business income and therefore not entitled to business deductions. It's a grey area and best settled by spending some time with the IRB to sort it out.

OG number is for people with a business. SG is for people without a business. This is your income tax reference number. You will need to apply for this with the IRB if you don't have one. Which number they allocate to you depends on whether your commissions are treated as a business or not as mentioned above.

The other issue is how long have you been overseas and whether you are a resident for tax purposes. There are a few rules to qualify for resident status, the most general being having been physically present in Malaysia for 182 Days or more in Malaysia in 2012. If you are not a resident, you will instead file a Form M (not a BE or B above). Also, your tax rate is different from resident individuals. We cannot assume 182 days rule is met just because you came back in April. If you travelled in and out, you will need to prove to IRB you were in Malaysia for 182 days in 2012 to be a resident.

I advise you to choose a day and go to IRB to sort this out. The deadline to file your taxes is 30 April if your commissions are not considered business income. If they are considered business income, your deadline is 30 June.

E-daftar is the system used to register new taxpayers. Given the uncertainty of your commission income as business or non-business, go confirm this and get guidance from IRB.

E- filing is the system used to submit your actual tax returns. You will need a password and ID after you have completed registration. (takes about a week or so to get the ID and password)

E-PCB is for payment of monthly tax by employers

E-payment is for paying your taxes via electronic banking after you finish e-filing

EA form is issued to employees. If you are not an employee you wouldn't have an EA Form. However, since you earn commission income, the contractor should provide you with either a Form CP32 (annual statement of commissions paid) or a Form CP 58 (statement of monies and non cash incentives paid to agents). Alternatively, bring the statement the contractor issues you to confirm your commissions paid.

If by chance you have been issued an EA form, check with the contractor whether they have treated you as an employee and applied for an income tax number on your behalf. I am not too sure on this bit on EA forms.

You also need to bring your passport (to prove resident status) and your contract with the contractor or terms of engagement to help determine whether your income is business or non-business.

The main things are:

1) confirm your resident status.
2) determine whether your commission income is business or non-business
3) register your income tax number (M/OG/SG depending on q1 and q2 above)

You can file your returns from home via Internet once you have done all three above and have gotten your e-filing ID. But don't wait for last minute because the servers can jam up and system will be very slow.

Please take note that if you are even 1 day late, the IRB can impose penalties on you for late submission and late payment of taxes.

P/S:

You mentioned you just came back to the country to work. Did the contractor deduct withholding tax on your commission payments? If yes, then you can use that to reduce your taxes for the year. Make sure you get the original receipts from the contractor. If no, then ignore this section.

This post has been edited by CKJMark: Apr 10 2013, 12:22 AM

This is a very busy month for IRB. Maybe 3-5 working days. If really cannot wait then you have to go yourself to IRB.

Do you have to pay your taxes before you go overseas? The purpose of e-filing is so you can file and pay online regardless of where you are.

The taxability of the forex is linked to the underlying transaction from which the forex arose, so you won't find a clear answer. It depends on the funds from which the forex arose.

If you trade/speculate on forex regularly, that can be considered taxable as business/trade income (like a forex trader). If you sold a car overseas and brought the money back, the forex is capital in nature and no taxable.

You need to look at it from a case by case basis

If you already have a specific person's contact it is best to contact that person again. It will be faster that way because that person knows your case and can attend to you faster specifically.

The relief for sporting equipment does not extend to shoes or attire. Unless you find a way to argue that your swimming trunks are so special that you swim faster and can't swim without it, I think you have a hard time justifying that. Coz then ppl will start claiming their tennis skirts, etc.

Yes, 10% penalty if you are 30days late, extra 5% on the total if you are 60days late.

Life premium is for life. Medical is for medical. The reason you can claim 60% of medical/life is because a "medical/life" policy is a combination of both. Follow the instruction on your annual insurance statement.

A rebate of a deductible expense, technically, is a form of income. You can claim RM200 deductible expense, but you should bring the RM5 to tax as income. So net effect it's still the same. The only time this would probably be a difference is if your rebate came in on January, so you would tax your rebate in the following year. Bit if the amount is not significant, just tax it in the current year to save yourself the hassle of tracking it.

Yup

1) Print out the submitted form BE with proof of submission.

2) take your EA Form and the form BE to Cawangan Pungutan (level 1, Blok 8A, Jalan Duta Government Building Complex)

3) See the officer for individual Tax and explain the situation

Once you have paid PCB, even though you didn't put it in your Form BE, it is still in your personal tax account. It will still set-off. But it is always best to go see them and get a confirmation. This is to avoid a misunderstanding which can result in 10% penalty on you.

These are costs you incur to buy and sell shares, not earn dividend income. You can only claim the stock brokerage fee and stamp duty if you are willing to subject you gains from sale of shares to tax as well (I.e. treat your buying-selling of shares as a trading activity instead of capital gains). Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't do that.

I think you would be. Please refer to example 14 in the attached public ruling

http://www.hasil.gov.my/pdf/pdfam/PR6_2011.pdf

2008 - resident Sec 7(1)(a)
2009 - resident Sec 7(1)(a)
2010 - resident Sec 7(1)(a)
2011 - resident Sec 7(1)©
2012 - resident Sec 7(1)(d) <provided you are in Malaysia for 90 days or more in 2013>
2013 - resident Sec 7(1)© <provided you are in Malaysia for 90 days or more in 2013>

I think that's how it works. Please confirm with IRB before you decide