Stamp Duty Exemptions for PENJANA Tourism Financing Facility Gazetted
05 August 2021
The
Stamp Duty (Exemption) (No. 6) Order 2021 [P.U.(A) 328/2021] (‘
E.O. 6/21’) and the
Stamp Duty (Exemption) (No. 7) Order 2021 (‘
E.O. 7/21’) [P.U.(A) 329/2021] were gazetted on 4 August 2021. E.O. No. 6/21 and E.O. No. 7/21 are deemed to have come into operation on 30 July 2020 and 1 September 2020 respectively.
Both E.O. No. 6/21 and E.O. No. 7/21 relate to stamp duty exemptions on instruments of loan or financing agreements under the RM1.0 billion PENJANA Tourism Financing Facility (‘
Tourism Financing Facility’) that was made available to the tourism sector as part of the
Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan (June to December 2020) announced by the Malaysian Government in June 2020.
1 More information of the Tourism Financing Facility is available
here.
E.O. No. 6/2021
E.O. No. 6/2021 exempts from stamp duty any instrument of loan or financing agreement for the Tourism Financing Facility approved under Bank Negara Malaysia’s Fund executed between a participating financial institution and a small and medium enterprise.
The exemption under E.O. No. 6/2021:
- applies to an instrument of loan or financing agreement executed pursuant to a letter of offer issued by a participating financial institution on or after 30 July 2020 but not later than 31 December 2021; and
- is subject to condition that the instrument of loan or financing agreement is to be accompanied by a letter of offer from the participating financial institution to the small and medium enterprise which states the approval of the loan or financing facility.
For the purposes of E.O. No. 6/2021:
- a “small and medium enterprise” has the same meaning assigned to it under section 2 of the Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation Act 1995; and
- a “participating financial institution” refers to any of the following entities:
- Affin Bank Berhad/Affin Islamic Bank Berhad
- Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad/Alliance Islamic Bank Berhad
- AmBank (M) Berhad/AmBank Islamic Berhad
- Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad
- Bank Simpanan Nasional
- CIMB Bank Berhad/CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad
- Hong Leong Bank Berhad/Hong Leong Islamic Bank
- Malayan Banking Berhad/Maybank Islamic Berhad
- Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad
- Public Bank Berhad/Public Islamic Bank Berhad
- RHB Bank Berhad/RHB Islamic Bank Berhad
- Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Berhad
E.O. No. 7/2021
E.O. No. 7/2021 exempts from stamp duty any instrument of loan or financing agreement for the Tourism Financing Facility approved under Bank Negara Malaysia’s Fund executed between Bank Negara Malaysia and a participating financial institution.
The exemption under E.O. 7/2021 applies to an instrument of loan or financing agreement executed on or after 1 September 2020 but not later than 31 December 2021.
For the purposes of E.O. No. 7/21, a “participating financial institution” refers to any of the following entities:
- Affin Bank Berhad
- Alliance Islamic Bank Berhad
- AmBank (M) Berhad
- Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad
- Bank Simpanan Nasional
- CIMB Bank Berhad
- Hong Leong Bank Berhad
- Malayan Banking Berhad
- Bank Muamalat Malaysia Berhad
- Public Bank Berhad
- RHB Bank Berhad
- Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Berhad
Comment
The stamp duty exemption granted in respect of qualifying instruments under E.O. 6/2021 will be welcomed by small and medium enterprises that have obtained financing under the Tourism Financing Facility.
Alert prepared by Desmond Liew (Senior Associate) of the Tax Practice of Skrine
1 Our summary of the Short-Term Economic Recovery Plan (June to December 2020) can be read
here.
This alert contains general information only. It does not constitute legal advice nor an expression of legal opinion and should not be relied upon as such. For further information, kindly contact skrine@skrine.com.