The Rules cited as Income Tax (Deduction for Expenses in relation to Secretarial Fee and Tax Filing Fee) Rules 2020 [P.U.(A) 162/2020] were gazetted on 19 May 2020 and have effect from the Year of Assessment 2020 (“YA2020”).
According to the Rules:
1) A person resident in Malaysia is allowed to claim deduction of the following expenses in computing his adjusted business income, in the basis period for a year of assessment:
Secretarial fee charged in respect of secretarial services provided by a company secretary registered under the Companies Act 2016 [Act 777] to comply with the statutory requirements under that Act, which is incurred and paid by the person in the basis period for that year of assessment; and
Tax filing fee charged by:
a tax agent approved under the Income Tax Act 1967 [Act 53] (“ITA”) in respect of the preparation and submission of return in the prescribed form for the purposes of sections 77, 77A, 77B, 83 and 86 of the Act for the basis period for the immediately preceding year of assessment and preparation and submission of forms prescribed for the purposes of section 107C of the ITA; or
a person who provides services in respect of the preparation and submission of return in the prescribed form for the purpose of:
- Section 26 of the Sales Tax Act 2018 [Act 806];
- Section 26 of the Service Tax Act 2018 [Act 807];
- Section 19 of the Departure Levy Act 20 19 [Act 813]; or
- Section 19 of the Tourism Tax Act 2017 [Act 791],
which is incurred and paid by the person in the basis period for that year of assessment.
2) The total amount of deduction allowed under paragraph 1 is subject to a maximum amount of RM15,000 for a year of assessment.
3) The Income Tax (Deduction for Expenses in relation to Secretarial Fee and Tax Filing Fee) Rules 2014 [P.U.(A) 336/2014] is revoked with effect from YA2020, which previously allowed deduction of secretarial fee and tax filing fee incurred and paid in the basis period for that year of assessment, up to RM5,000 and RM10,000 respectively.
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