Further to the announcement on 5 January 2026 by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (“IRBM”) issued the following documents that provide details of the Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme for Stamp Duty (“SVDP 2026”): 

This article summarises the key points of the SVDP 2026.
 
Duration
 
The SVDP 2026 will be effective for six months, from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026 (“implementation period”).
 
Scope
 
The SVDP 2026 applies to all instruments executed from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025 which: 

Under the SVDP 2026, both stamping and payment of duty must be made within the implementation period. Late payment penalty will be imposed if an instrument is submitted for assessment within the implementation period but is not stamped within the said period.
 
The SVDP 2026 is available to all duty payers, regardless of whether they are citizens or non-citizens.
 
Remission under SVDP 2026
 
The penalty for late stamping of an instrument under Section 47A of the Stamp Act 1949 will be remitted pursuant to the SVDP 2026. There is no requirement for any appeal to be submitted for remission of the penalty. When the instrument is submitted for assessment of stamp duty, the late stamping penalty will be shown on the notice of assessment but will be automatically waived when the stamp duty is paid.
 
Non-application
 
Cases involving fraud, i.e. those with elements of deception or falsification, and intention to avoid payment of stamp duty will not qualify for remission of penalty under the SVDP 2026.
 
No refund of late payment penalty already paid
 
If stamp duty and late payment penalty have already been paid on an instrument executed from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025, the duty payer will not be entitled to seek a refund of the late payment penalty under the SVDP 2026.
 
Method of submission
 
All applications under the SVDP 2026 must be submitted online through the e-Stamp Duty System. Manual submissions are not permitted.
 
Stamp duty audit
 
All instruments stamped under the SVDP 2026 will not be subject to stamp duty audit. However, the duty payer is not exempted from audit on instruments that are not stamped under the SVDP 2026.
 
Comments
 
According to the IRBM, the remission of penalty under the SVDP 2026 aims to educate and raise awareness, and encourage voluntary compliance among duty payers.² The IRBM has advised duty payers who wish to take advantage of the remission of penalty under the SVDP 2026 to submit the eligible instruments on a timely basis so that the notices of assessment can be issued and stamp duty paid within the implementation period.³
 
In closing, we reiterate that instruments involving any element of fraud will not be eligible for remission of penalty under the SVDP 2026.
 
It will be interesting to see the response from duty payers to the incentive under the SVDP 2026.
 
 
Article by Sheba Gumis (Partner) and Joey Tiw (Senior Associate) of the Tax Practice of Skrine.
 
 

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