Articles by: nbc.geoffrey

People eligible to receive the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) 2.0 will begin getting their money early next year, Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah announced Monday. No definite date had been set yet for the distribution.

Ahmad Husni said registration of BR1M 2.0 applicants would begin on Nov 1, but only two categories of applicants had to fill in the forms — those single people aged 21 and above earning less than RM2,000 per month and those who were left out of this year’s BR1M programme for whatever reason.

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Skim Rumah Pertamaku (SRP) – My First Home Scheme was first announced in the 2011 Budget by the Malaysian Government to assist young adults who have just joined the workforce, earning RM3,000 per month or less to own  their first home.

The Scheme allows young adults to obtain 100% financing from financial institutions, enabling them to own their 1^st home without the need to pay a 10% downpayment. This is in line with the Government’s aspirations of increasing home ownership amongst the “rakyat”.

Many may be asking – how does this work? Is there a special government agency set up for this scheme? Do I need to apply to any government agencies to qualify for this 100% housing financing? You may find the answer below.

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The National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN-i ) was designed by the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) for the purpose of higher education.

As announced in Budget 2013, it is proposed that personal tax relief for saving deposits placed with SSPN-i for the benefit of their children be increased from existing RM3,000 to RM6,000 effective from year of assessment 2012 to 2017.

Please note the proposed effective date is YA 2012 (yes, begins from this year, i.e. 2012!), even before the finance bill being gazetted at parliament.  Read more ›

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In Budget 2013, in order to encourage the students to early repay the PTPTN loan, Prime Minister announced a discount of 20% will be given to the outstanding amount of education loan borrowed from Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional loan, if the PTPTN loan is fully from 1 October 2012 until 30 September 2013.

Comment: The government has been very generous in allowing a period of 12 months for the borrowers to repay the PTPTN loan or give them more time to save money to repay the loan during the 12 months.

If someone has sufficient savings now to fully repay the loan, would you choose to pay now or by 30 September 2013 (nearly a year later)? Read more ›

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In Budget 2013, in order to encourage the students to repay the Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) education loans in accordance with their repayment schedules, it is proposed a 10% discount per annum on their repayment will be given effective from 1 Oct 2012.

For those PTPTN loan borrowers who may not have the financial ability to fully repay the education loans before 30 September 2013 in order to reap the 20% discount on the outstanding loan balance, they are still entitled to a 10% discount per annum on their repayment, with effect from 1 Oct 2012.

In relation to the above Budget 2013 proposal, PTPTN issued the following Frequent Asked Questions (FAQ) on their website:

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Budget 2013 proposes amendments to income tax law to treat tax status of a limited liability partnership (LLP) similar to that of a company under Companies Act, 1965. LLP is referred to a partnership set up under Limited Liability Partnerships Act, 2012.

Tax status of a LLP:

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The new individual income tax rates effective from year of assessment 2013 is tabulated below and tax rate reduction gives a maximum tax saving up to RM475 for a person with chargeable income of more than RM50,000.

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The limited supply of real property especially in urban areas has provided opportunities for speculative activities.

Therefore, the Government proposes the real property gains tax (RPGT) from the disposal of properties made within a period not exceeding 2 years from the date of purchase will be taxed at the rate of between 15% and 10% of disposal of property within a period of 2 to 5 years.

For property disposed after 5 years from the date of acquisition, RPGT is not applicable.

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The deadline for the public to submit the application form for the RM500 Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) scheme has been extended to Feb 10, 2012.

Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the form could be submitted at all Inland Revenue Board (IRB) offices and agencies handling the aid.

The one-month extension came following appeals from those who were unable to submit the form by Tuesday.  Read more ›

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Members of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) earning a monthly wage of not exceeding RM5,000 will be receiving a boost in their retirement savings when the revised employers’ statutory contribution rate of 13 percent takes effect from January 2012 wages.

The one per cent increase from the current 12 per cent will benefit 5.3 million working Malaysians, comprising 92 per cent of EPF’s active members. Meanwhile, the employees’ contribution rate remains at 11 percent. Read more ›

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