Key Tax-Aways for 2023

The global recovery remained slow in the year 2023 with stubborn inflation, rising interest rates and heightened conflicts around the world. From the Malaysian perspective, the 15th General Election resulted in a unity government being formed amidst rising cost of living and economic slowdown. The year also saw the weakened Malaysian ringgit which adversely affected households and substantially reduced the purchasing power of Malaysians.

One year of coming to power, the unity government is said to be politically stable and able to fully focus on bolstering the economy and improving the people’s welfare. Our observations are that, as Malaysia resets after a change in government, tax developments will continue to take shape as the unity government looks to rebuild the economy and emphasize a return to sustainable economic growth in 2024.

As such, this write up focuses on the key “Tax Aways” for the year 2023, which will highlight some of the important takeaways from a tax perspective that taxpayers need to be aware of before we go forward into the new year. Some of these items may be new, as they have only been implemented or announced in recent months, making this publication a timely resource for taxpayers who are in the midst of preparing for the new year. Therefore, we encourage taxpayers to take stock of these takeaways for the year 2023 so that you may better position yourselves for the challenges ahead. As always, we hope that taxpayers will remain vigilant to the changes that are taking place amidst an uncertain environment and remain at your side to address any of these challenges.

From all of us at Crowe Malaysia, we would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our clients a very Happy New Year ahead and greater success in the year 2024.