Tax residence in Malaysia for Indian taxpayers
Malaysia treats you as resident if you spend 182 days or more there in a calendar year, with any part of a day counting as a full day. Fewer days can be enough: if they are linked to at least 182 consecutive days in Malaysia within the previous or the next calendar year, if you have spent 90 days or more there in earlier years, or if you were resident in the three previous years and will be in the next. India counts days over its tax year (1 April – 31 March). If both countries claim you, Art. 4(2) of the India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) decides; both countries relieve double tax by credit (Art. 24). Malaysia taxes foreign income only when it is received in Malaysia.
Free, no sign-up, about 3 minutes. Conclusion under Indian income-tax law, compared with the law of Malaysia and the tax treaty.
When Malaysia treats you as a tax resident
Malaysia counts days in the calendar year (an individual's basis year), and the threshold is 182 days (not 183): 182 days or more make you resident. Any part of a day in Malaysia counts as a full day, so the days of arrival and departure count too. Citizenship, visa or owning a home do not matter for this test.
Malaysia links years together: even fewer than 182 days in the selected year make you resident if those days are linked to a period of at least 182 consecutive days in Malaysia that lies entirely within the previous or the next calendar year (for example, you were in Malaysia from 1 March to 31 December of the previous year and stayed on into the selected year). A stay that merely crosses 31 December is not enough: from September to April, neither year contains 182 consecutive days. Business trips for your Malaysian job, medical treatment (yours or a close relative's) and social visits of up to 14 days in total do not break the period if you were in Malaysia before and after the trip; a longer holiday abroad does. The 14-day allowance for social visits covers both periods together.
The second rule is for people who come to Malaysia year after year: 90 days or more in the selected year make you resident if, in any three of the four preceding years, you were resident in Malaysia or spent at least 90 days there. The criteria can be combined — for example, two years of residence and one year with 90 days.
The second rule is for people who come to Malaysia year after year: 90 days or more in the selected year make you resident if, in any three of the four preceding years, you were resident in Malaysia or spent at least 90 days there. The criteria can be combined — for example, two years of residence and one year with 90 days.
The third rule keeps your status for a year in which you were hardly or not at all in Malaysia (for example, studying or working abroad for a long time): you are resident if you were resident in each of the three preceding years and will be resident in the following year. So your final status for such a year is known only after the following year ends.
For Malaysian citizens in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who spent the selected year abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, a special rule applies: they are treated as resident.
For Malaysian citizens in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who spent the selected year abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, a special rule applies: they are treated as resident.
The second rule is for people who come to Malaysia year after year: 90 days or more in the selected year make you resident if, in any three of the four preceding years, you were resident in Malaysia or spent at least 90 days there. The criteria can be combined — for example, two years of residence and one year with 90 days.
The second rule is for people who come to Malaysia year after year: 90 days or more in the selected year make you resident if, in any three of the four preceding years, you were resident in Malaysia or spent at least 90 days there. The criteria can be combined — for example, two years of residence and one year with 90 days.
The third rule keeps your status for a year in which you were hardly or not at all in Malaysia (for example, studying or working abroad for a long time): you are resident if you were resident in each of the three preceding years and will be resident in the following year. So your final status for such a year is known only after the following year ends.
For Malaysian citizens in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who spent the selected year abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, a special rule applies: they are treated as resident.
For Malaysian citizens in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who spent the selected year abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, a special rule applies: they are treated as resident.
Malaysia links years together: even fewer than 182 days in the selected year make you resident if those days are linked to a period of at least 182 consecutive days in Malaysia that lies entirely within the previous or the next calendar year (for example, you were in Malaysia from 1 March to 31 December of the previous year and stayed on into the selected year). A stay that merely crosses 31 December is not enough: from September to April, neither year contains 182 consecutive days. Business trips for your Malaysian job, medical treatment (yours or a close relative's) and social visits of up to 14 days in total do not break the period if you were in Malaysia before and after the trip; a longer holiday abroad does. The 14-day allowance for social visits covers both periods together.
The third rule keeps your status for a year in which you were hardly or not at all in Malaysia (for example, studying or working abroad for a long time): you are resident if you were resident in each of the three preceding years and will be resident in the following year. So your final status for such a year is known only after the following year ends.
For Malaysian citizens in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who spent the selected year abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, a special rule applies: they are treated as resident.
For Malaysian citizens in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who spent the selected year abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, a special rule applies: they are treated as resident.
- You spent 182 days or more in Malaysia in the calendar year (counting every part day) — you are a Malaysian tax resident for that year (s. 7(1)(a) ITA 1967). Malaysia taxes income from Malaysian sources at progressive rates from 0 to 30%; foreign income only if it is remitted to Malaysia, and for individuals it is exempt until 31 December 2036 if it was taxed in the country of source.
- Fewer than 182 days in the selected year, but they are linked to a period of at least 182 consecutive days in Malaysia within the previous or the next calendar year — you are a Malaysian resident for this year (s. 7(1)(b) ITA 1967). The conclusion is probable: check that those 182 consecutive days really fall within one adjacent year and that every trip abroad was a permitted temporary absence (social visits — no more than 14 days in total across both periods).
- You spent 90 days or more in Malaysia, and in three of the four preceding years you were resident there or spent at least 90 days there — you are a Malaysian resident for this year (s. 7(1)(c) ITA 1967). Back up your answer about the earlier years with documents (passport stamps, LHDN statements).
- You were a Malaysian resident in each of the three preceding years and are (or will be) resident in the following year — you are resident for the selected year too, even if you were hardly in Malaysia (s. 7(1)(d) ITA 1967). The conclusion depends on your status in the following year: if you do not become resident then, the rule does not apply.
- As a Malaysian citizen in the public service (or with a statutory authority) who was abroad because of that work or on study fully paid by the employer, you are treated as a Malaysian resident for this year (s. 7(1B) ITA 1967).
When you are a nonresident
- You meet none of the criteria of s. 7 ITA 1967 — you are not a Malaysian resident for this year. Malaysia may tax only your Malaysian-source income, at a flat 30% without reliefs (certain types through withholding tax at source).
- Your answers suggest you are probably not a Malaysian resident, but you answered «Not sure» to one of the questions (continuous period, earlier years or the following year). Count your days in Malaysia for the selected, earlier and following years — any of the criteria in s. 7(1)(b)–(d) can make you resident.
Where the rules of Malaysia clash with Indian tax rules
- Collision: 182 days in Malaysia in the calendar year while resident in India. Malaysia treats you as resident because you spent 182 days or more there in the calendar year; India treats you as resident because of your days in India in its April–March tax year. Because the two years cover different months, both can apply to the same period — typically in the year you move between the two countries, or under India's 60-day test if you spent 365 days in India in the four preceding years. Art. 4(2) of the India–Malaysia Agreement decides: a permanent home only in India makes you resident of India; a home in both countries leads to the centre of vital interests; then habitual abode, nationality and, finally, mutual agreement of the competent authorities.
- Collision: Malaysia can make you resident with fewer than 182 days. Malaysia may treat you as resident for a year in which you spent fewer than 182 days there: if those days are linked to at least 182 consecutive days in Malaysia within the previous or the next year (s. 7(1)(b)), if you have come for 90 days or more in earlier years (s. 7(1)(c)), if you were resident before and after that year (s. 7(1)(d)), or as a Malaysian civil servant posted abroad (s. 7(1B)). India's tests count only days in India (in the selected tax year and the four preceding years), so both countries can treat you as resident for the same period. Art. 4(2) of the India–Malaysia Agreement then decides — first by permanent home, then by centre of vital interests and habitual abode; the number of days in one year alone is not decisive.
What else to know
- Which treaty applies: the India–Malaysia Agreement (2012). The Agreement signed at Putrajaya on 9 May 2012 is in force since 26 December 2012; it applies in India from 1 April 2013 (tax year 2013-14 onwards) and in Malaysia from the year of assessment 2013, and replaced the 2001 Agreement. Residence tie-breaker: Art. 4(2) — permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, then mutual agreement. Employment: Art. 16 (183 days in any twelve-month period); private pensions: Art. 19 — State of residence only; government service: Art. 20; relief: Art. 24 — credit in both countries; mutual agreement procedure: Art. 26. Art. 28 (Limitation of Benefits) denies treaty benefits where obtaining them was the main purpose of an arrangement. The Agreement is covered by the MLI, but its residence article is unchanged.
- Different counting periods: India's tax year, Malaysia's calendar year. India counts your days over its tax year (1 April – 31 March): resident with 182 days, or with 60 days plus 365 days in the four preceding years. Malaysia counts days in the calendar year (its basis year for individuals): the threshold is 182 days (also in a leap year), and any part of a day in Malaysia counts as a full day, so the days of arrival and departure count. Malaysia also looks beyond one year — at a period of 182 or more consecutive days within the previous or the next calendar year to which your days are linked and at your earlier and following years. The 183-day limit for salary in Art. 16(2)(a) of the India–Malaysia Agreement uses any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned. Keep a day count for each of these periods.
- Malaysia does not tax foreign income that is not brought into Malaysia. Even a Malaysian resident pays Malaysian tax only on income arising in Malaysia and on foreign income received (remitted) in Malaysia. Foreign income of resident individuals received in Malaysia by 31 December 2036 is exempt if it was taxed in the country of source. India, by contrast, taxes a resident (other than a not ordinarily resident) on worldwide income, so if India is your state of residence under the Agreement, your Malaysian salary and other Malaysian income are taxed in India as well, with a deduction for the Malaysian tax.
- Working in Malaysia while resident in India: the 183-day rule (Art. 16(2)). Pay for work physically done in Malaysia is Malaysian-source income. Malaysian law on its own exempts a non-resident only if the work in Malaysia in the basis year lasted no more than 60 days (para 21 Sch. 6 ITA 1967); otherwise a non-resident pays 30% without reliefs. If India is your state of residence, Malaysia does not tax the pay when all three conditions of Art. 16(2) of the India–Malaysia Agreement are met: no more than 183 days in Malaysia in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned, an employer that is not resident in Malaysia, and pay not borne by the employer's permanent establishment or fixed base in Malaysia. Otherwise Malaysia taxes the pay for your Malaysian work days and India gives a deduction for the Malaysian tax (Art. 24(2)).
- How India relieves double taxation of Malaysian income. If India is your state of residence, you report Malaysian income in your Indian return and deduct the Malaysian tax paid on it: under Art. 24(2) of the India–Malaysia Agreement the deduction may not exceed the Indian tax attributable to the income that Malaysia may tax. Claim it with Form No. 44 (rule 76 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026), with a certificate of the Malaysian income and tax and proof of payment. If you think either country taxes you contrary to the Agreement, you can present the case under the mutual agreement procedure within three years of the first notification of that taxation (Art. 26).
- Resident in Malaysia: what India still taxes and how Malaysia gives credit. If Malaysia is your state of residence (under its own law, or under the Agreement if India also treats you as resident), India taxes you only on Indian-source income, and only as far as the Agreement allows (s. 159(4) of the Income-tax Act, 2025) — for example pay for work physically done in India, rent from Indian property, and dividends, interest, royalties and fees for technical services within the Agreement's limits of 5% and 10%. For treaty rates give the Indian payer a Malaysian certificate of residence (s. 159(8)). Malaysia credits the Indian tax against Malaysian tax on the same income (Art. 24(4)) — but only where Malaysia taxes that income at all: foreign income is taxed only when received in Malaysia, and a resident individual's foreign income received there by 31 December 2036 is exempt if it was taxed in the country of source.
- Malaysian withholding on payments to a resident of India. As a non-resident of Malaysia you pay Malaysian tax only on Malaysian-source income, partly through withholding by the payer: interest 15%, royalties 10%, fees for technical and consultancy services performed in Malaysia 10%, other income under s. 4(f) 10%, public entertainers 15%. As a resident of India you can rely on the Agreement's limits: interest no more than 10% (Art. 11), royalties and fees for technical services no more than 10% (Arts. 12 and 13), dividends no more than 5% (Art. 10). A sale of Malaysian real property by a foreigner without permanent resident status bears RPGT of 30% within 5 years of ownership and 10% from the 6th year; the Agreement leaves real property gains to Malaysia. India taxes the same income as part of your worldwide income and deducts the Malaysian tax (Art. 24(2)).
- Pensions and government pay between India and Malaysia. Pensions and annuities for past employment are taxable only in your state of residence (Art. 19 of the India–Malaysia Agreement); the Agreement has no separate rule for social security pensions. Pay for government service is as a rule taxable only in the paying country; the other country taxes it if the service is rendered there and you are its national or did not become its resident solely to render the service. Government pensions are taxable only in the paying country, unless you are a resident and a national of the other one (Art. 20).
- Residence under s. 7(1)(d) depends on the following year. You are a Malaysian resident under the rule that looks at the following year. If you do not become a Malaysian resident in the following year, your status for the selected year changes — check it once that year has ended. Your Indian status is not affected: it follows only the Indian day tests.
- Certificates of residence. To use the Agreement in Malaysia as a resident of India — for the 183-day rule or the reduced withholding rates — you need proof of Indian residence: apply on the e-filing portal in Form No. 42; the certificate is issued in Form No. 43 (rule 75 of the Income-tax Rules, 2026). To use the Agreement in India as a resident of Malaysia, obtain a certificate of residence from LHDN (online through e-Residence) and give it to the Indian payer with the prescribed information (s. 159(8)). For the deduction of Malaysian tax in India you also need a certificate of the Malaysian income and tax and proof of payment (Form No. 44).
- Social security: no India–Malaysia agreement. Malaysia is not on EPFO's list of countries with which India's social security agreements operate. An employee posted from India to Malaysia therefore cannot use an EPFO certificate of coverage to be exempt from Malaysian contributions, and contributions may be due under the rules of both countries for the same work. Ask your employer how the posting is handled before it starts.
How dual residence is resolved
If both countries treat you as a resident, Art. 4(2) of the treaty applies: Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Malaysia for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income, with Protocol, signed at Putrajaya on 9 May 2012. The tests are applied in order — permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, and finally mutual agreement between the tax authorities.
The treaty in detail: income, rates, the 183-day rule →
Terms you will come across in Malaysia
- Income Tax Act 1967 (ITA)
- Malaysia's income tax law; residence of individuals — s. 7
- basis year
- for an individual, the calendar year for which residence is determined
- LHDN
- Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia
- Certificate of Residence (e-Residence)
- Malaysian certificate of tax residence, issued by LHDN online
- RPGT (Real Property Gains Tax)
- tax on gains from selling real property in Malaysia
- PR 11/2017
- LHDN public ruling on the residence status of individuals
Questions
Which DTAA applies between India and Malaysia?
The Agreement signed at Putrajaya on 9 May 2012, in force since 26 December 2012; it applies in India from 1 April 2013 and in Malaysia from the year of assessment 2013, and replaced the 2001 Agreement. The tie-breaker is in Art. 4(2): permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality, then mutual agreement.
Does Malaysia tax my salary for a short assignment if I remain resident in India?
Not if all conditions of Art. 16(2) of the Agreement are met: no more than 183 days in Malaysia in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned, an employer not resident in Malaysia, and pay not borne by its permanent establishment or fixed base there. Malaysian law on its own exempts work of no more than 60 days in the year.
How is double taxation relieved between India and Malaysia?
If India is your state of residence, India deducts the Malaysian tax up to the Indian tax attributable to that income (Art. 24(2)); claim it with Form No. 44. If Malaysia is, it credits Indian tax on income it taxes (Art. 24(4)); foreign income of resident individuals received in Malaysia by 31 December 2036 is exempt if it was taxed in the country of source.
Sources
Legislation and official guidance
- s. 7(1) Income Tax Act 1967 (Act 53) — An individual is resident in Malaysia for a basis year (for individuals, the calendar year) if he or she: (a) is in Malaysia for 182 days or more in that year; (b) is there for fewer than 182 days, but that period is linked to another period of at least 182 consecutive days in Malaysia falling within the preceding or the following year (permitted temporary absences count towards both periods, and the 14-day allowance for social visits covers both together); (c) is there for 90 days or more in that year and, in each of any three of the four preceding years, was resident or was in Malaysia for 90 days or more; (d) is resident in the following year and was resident in each of the three preceding years.
- Public Ruling LHDN No. 11/2017 «Residence Status of Individuals» (22.12.2017), paras 5–6 — Residence depends on physical presence, not on citizenship or a residence permit. Part of a day counts as a full day of presence (the days of arrival and departure count). LHDN's ruling gives examples for each of the criteria in s. 7(1)(a)–(d) and s. 7(1B).
- s. 7(1)(b) ITA 1967 (temporary absences) — A continuous period is not broken by temporary absences, provided the person was in Malaysia immediately before and after them: (i) absences connected with service in Malaysia (official business, conferences, seminars, study abroad); (ii) absences owing to ill health of the person or of an immediate family member; (iii) social visits not exceeding 14 days in total.
- s. 7(1B) ITA 1967; Public Ruling No. 11/2017, para 6.5 — A Malaysian citizen who works in the Malaysian public service or for a statutory authority is treated as resident for a year in which he or she was not in Malaysia because of service abroad in that post or study abroad fully paid by that employer. The rule does not cover employees of private companies or local staff hired abroad.
- Income Tax (Exemption) (No. 5) Order 2022, P.U.(A) 234/2022, as amended by P.U.(A) 451/2024; LHDN Guidelines on income received from abroad (20 June 2024), paras 5.2.2.1–5.2.2.2 — Foreign income of a resident individual received (remitted in cash or electronically) in Malaysia from 1 January 2022 is exempt, except income connected with a partnership in Malaysia — provided the income was taxed in the country of source, or was not taxed there because of its tax system, a tax-free threshold or a tax incentive. P.U.(A) 451/2024 (in force from 1 January 2027) extended the exemption from 31 December 2026 to 31 December 2036.
- s. 3 ITA 1967; LHDN «Who is taxable» — Tax is charged on income accruing in or derived from Malaysia and on income received in Malaysia from outside Malaysia. Residents pay at progressive rates and are entitled to personal reliefs (ss. 45A–49); non-residents pay a flat 30% without reliefs.
- Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of Malaysia (Putrajaya, 9 May 2012), with Protocol — Signed at Putrajaya on 9 May 2012 in Hindi, Malay and English (the English text prevails in case of divergence); in force 26 December 2012; it has effect in India from 1 April 2013 and in Malaysia from the year of assessment 2013, and replaced the 2001 Agreement. Both States list it under the MLI (in force for India from 1 October 2019, for Malaysia from 1 June 2021); the residence article (Art. 4) is not changed by the MLI.
- Art. 4(2) India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — Individual resident of both States: (a) resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available to him in both States, of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests); (b) if the State of the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has no permanent home available to him in either State — of the State in which he has an habitual abode; (c) habitual abode in both States or in neither — of the State of which he is a national; (d) national of both States or of neither — the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement.
- Art. 28 India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) (Limitation of Benefits); Protocol, para. 2 — Benefits of the Agreement are limited by a main-purpose test (no benefits where the main purpose of an arrangement was to obtain them) and by a rule for entities without bona fide business activities; Labuan entities are excluded unless they elect to be taxed under the Income Tax Act 1967 (Protocol, para. 2).
- Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 159 — The Central Government may enter into agreements for relief from double taxation and avoidance of double taxation; where an agreement applies, the Act applies only to the extent more beneficial to the assessee (s. 159(4)). A non-resident may claim treaty relief only with a certificate of residence from the other country's government and the prescribed documents and information (s. 159(8)).
- Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 6(1)–(2) — Residential status is determined for each tax year. An individual is resident in India in a tax year if in India for 182 days or more in that year, or for 60 days or more in that year and 365 days or more in the four years preceding it.
- Art. 16(2) India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — Remuneration of a resident of one State for employment exercised in the other State is taxable only in the first State if (a) the recipient is present in the other State for a period or periods not exceeding in the aggregate 183 days in any twelve-month period commencing or ending in the fiscal year concerned, (b) the remuneration is paid by, or on behalf of, an employer who is not a resident of the other State, and (c) it is not borne by a permanent establishment or fixed base which the employer has in the other State.
- Income-tax Act, 2025, s. 5 — A resident is taxed on income received or deemed received in India, accruing or arising (or deemed to) in India, and accruing or arising outside India; for a not ordinarily resident, income accruing outside India is included only if it is from a business controlled in or a profession set up in India. A non-resident is taxed only on income received or deemed received in India, or accruing or arising (or deemed to) in India.
- para 21 Sch. 6 ITA 1967 (LHDN, «Tax treatment of residents and non-residents», 2025) — A non-resident's pay for work in Malaysia is exempt if the work in the basis year lasted no more than 60 days (with exceptions, e.g. for entertainers paid from public funds). Otherwise a non-resident pays 30% without reliefs or rebates.
- Art. 24 India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — India: a resident of India gets a deduction from Indian income-tax of the tax paid in Malaysia on income that may be taxed in Malaysia under the Agreement, not exceeding the Indian tax attributable to that income (Art. 24(2)). Malaysia: Indian tax payable under the Agreement on income from India is credited against Malaysian tax on that income, not exceeding the Malaysian tax attributable to it (Art. 24(4)). Tax spared under listed incentives is treated as paid (Art. 24(3) and (5)).
- Income-tax Rules, 2026, rule 76; Forms No. 44 and 45 — A resident gets credit for foreign tax in the tax year in which the income is taxed in India; credit is the lower of the Indian tax on that income and the foreign tax, per source and per country; not against interest, fees or penalties; disputed foreign tax only after settlement (Form No. 45, within 6 months of the month of settlement). Form No. 44 with a certificate of income and tax and proof of payment, within 12 months from the end of the tax year if the return was filed on time; accountant verification if foreign tax is ₹1,00,000 or more. Conversion at the TT buying rate.
- Art. 26 India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) (as modified by Art. 16 of the MLI) — A person who considers that the actions of one or both States result or will result in taxation not in accordance with the Agreement may present the case to the competent authority of either State within three years from the first notification of the action.
- Arts. 10–13 India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — Tax in the source State on payments to a beneficial owner resident in the other State may not exceed 5% of the gross dividends (Art. 10(2)), 10% of the gross interest (Art. 11(2); interest of governments, central banks and listed institutions is exempt — Art. 11(3)), 10% of the gross royalties (Art. 12(2)) and 10% of the gross fees for technical services (Art. 13(2)).
- ss. 107A, 109, 109A, 109B, 109F ITA 1967 (LHDN, withholding tax) — Withholding by the payer on payments to a non-resident: interest — 15%, royalties — 10% (s. 109); public entertainers — 15% (s. 109A); fees for services in connection with property, technical management or advice, rent of movable property — 10% (s. 109B, only for services performed in Malaysia); other income under s. 4(f) — 10% (s. 109F); contract payments for services — 10% + 3% (s. 107A). A double tax treaty may reduce the rates.
- Real Property Gains Tax — Schedule 5 RPGTA, Parts I and III (LHDN) — Tax on gains from disposals of Malaysian real property: citizens and permanent residents — 30% (up to 3 years of ownership), 20% (4th year), 15% (5th year), 0% (from the 6th year); persons who are neither Malaysian citizens nor permanent residents — 30% (up to 5 years), 10% (from the 6th year).
- Arts. 19 and 20 India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — Art. 19: pensions and annuities paid to a resident of a State in consideration of past employment are taxable only in that State. Art. 20: salaries paid by a State for government services are taxable only in that State, unless the services are rendered in the other State by a resident of it who is its national or did not become its resident solely to render the services (Art. 20(1)(b)); government pensions are taxable only in the paying State, unless the recipient is a resident and a national of the other State (Art. 20(2)(b)).
- Income-tax Rules, 2026, rule 75(3); Form No. 42 (application) and Form No. 43 (certificate) — Application for a certificate of residence for the purposes of an agreement under s. 159(1)–(2), filed on the e-filing portal (replaces Form 10FA): period for which the certificate is needed, basis of the residential status claimed, address in that period, supporting documents; the certificate is issued in Form No. 43.
- LHDN: Certificate of Residence (e-Residence) — LHDN issues certificates of Malaysian tax residence for the application of double taxation agreements; the application is filed online.
- EPFO — International Workers: Social Security Agreements — India's social security agreements operate with Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Denmark, Korea, the Netherlands, Hungary, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Norway, Austria, Canada, Australia, Japan, Portugal, Brazil and Quebec. EPFO issues a certificate of coverage to employees posted to those countries, so they avoid contributing in the host country; periods count toward pension eligibility.
- Sch. 1 Part I ITA 1967 — rates for residents, YA 2023–2025 (LHDN) — Rates for residents: 0% up to RM 5,000; 1% — 5,001–20,000; 3% — 20,001–35,000; 6% — 35,001–50,000; 11% — 50,001–70,000; 19% — 70,001–100,000; 25% — 100,001–400,000; 26% — 400,001–600,000; 28% — 600,001–2,000,000; 30% — above RM 2,000,000. Non-residents — 30%.
- Income Tax (Determination of Chargeable Income of an Individual in respect of Dividend) Rules 2025, P.U.(A) 148/2025 — From YA 2025, dividends of an individual (resident or non-resident) above RM 100,000 a year are taxable under Part XXII Sch. 1 ITA 1967; the Rules determine which part of chargeable income is attributable to dividends.
- Art. 4(2)(a) India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — A dual-resident individual is deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has a permanent home available to him; if he has a permanent home available in both States, of the State with which his personal and economic relations are closer (centre of vital interests).
- Art. 4(2)(b) India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — If the State of the centre of vital interests cannot be determined, or if he has no permanent home available to him in either State, he is deemed to be a resident of the State in which he has an habitual abode.
- Art. 4(2)(c), (d) India–Malaysia Agreement (2012) — If he has an habitual abode in both States or in neither, he is deemed to be a resident of the State of which he is a national (c); if he is a national of both States or of neither, the competent authorities settle the question by mutual agreement (d).
Updated 10/11/2026. The result is for information only and is not tax or legal advice. Tax authorities and courts may interpret the rules differently, including because of circumstances not covered here, and the law changes. Consult a qualified adviser before making decisions.
Other countries
- Indian taxpayers in Argentina
- Indian taxpayers in Austria
- Indian taxpayers in Bangladesh
- Indian taxpayers in Brazil
- Indian taxpayers in Canada
- Indian taxpayers in China
- Indian taxpayers in the Czech Republic
- Indian taxpayers in France
- Indian taxpayers in Germany
- Indian taxpayers in Hungary
- Indian taxpayers in Italy
- Indian taxpayers in Japan
- Indian taxpayers in the Netherlands
- Indian taxpayers in Pakistan
- Indian taxpayers in Poland
- Indian taxpayers in Portugal
- Indian taxpayers in Romania
- Indian taxpayers in Singapore
- Indian taxpayers in Spain
- Indian taxpayers in Sweden
- Indian taxpayers in Switzerland
- Indian taxpayers in Taiwan
- Indian taxpayers in Türkiye
- Indian taxpayers in Ukraine
- Indian taxpayers in the United Kingdom
- Indian taxpayers in the United States