Checklist to prepare your move out of Malaysia

Just as I have written about leaving Thailand and Indonesia, it’s again time to bid a new country goodbye. Although we will be back here after our World Tour, so let’s not call it farewells just yet!

It’s my second stay in Malaysia, therefore I have gone through the below processes twice, albeit 12 years apart. (and said processes did change a little).

You will need to focus on the following elements:

1 Cancelling / shortening your visa.
2 Proceeding to get your tax clearance.
3 Closing your EPF (if you had one) and withdraw all the funds.
4 Preparing the move out – closing your daily services.

Cancelling/Shortening your visa

It’s the first step that you should take. The updated shortened visa or/and the date on which you will leave the country, is a requirement for the other two processes.

This step should be done by your company. Most of it is done online via MyExpat portal and they will require your passport for a day or two for the stamping. It’s quite fast for them to do and requires from you only one document, your flight ticket out of the country. 

Please note that if you were issued an e-visa (this is quite new in 2023), they still asked a copy of the last “physical” visa sticker you had prior to the e-visa one. 

Land border crossing is not accepted (I entertained the idea of a road trip to Singapore and flying out from there to my next destination). This flight ticket needs to be within 30 days of your last working day. For example, my husband last working day was on 31st December, we booked a flight on 31st January, his shortened visa was dated on 1st February.

These 30 days are there to help you settle your personal dealings before leaving the country.

Usually, a company will start the EP cancellation 2 to 3 weeks before the last working day.

Proceeding to your tax clearance

Your company is responsible to the authorities for you leaving in good standing order. Would you not be paying your taxes appropriately, as your sponsor, they would be liable to top up.

Therefore, they will be helping you and should take a pro-active role. As of 1st January 2024, submitting the documents is done totally online, therefore I am unsure if you can still do it by yourself, in-person.

My husband and I did it ourselves, in-person, 12 years ago and it was easy. In late 2023, my husband did it again in person, and my company used an agent who processed it online for mine.

Be aware that many companies hold all, or part, of your last salary until the tax clearance is finished. This way if you have to pay extra taxes, they will deduce it from your last salary before paying you. 

It is important that you leave Malaysia with the Tax Clearance Letter and that you keep it! When we came back to Malaysia in our second stay, this document was requested by immigration when we submitted our application for our new EP.

Tax clearance documents needed:

- All your receipts for any tax relief that you would be eligible to. (every year it changes – visit Hasil website for the latest available schemes). And for all the years you stayed in Malaysia. 

• I recommend that you scan the receipts, especially the ones which can fade over time. Now that everything is going digital, for my husband, the tax officer accepted the scans/print outs (but we could provide the original ones if asked and for all of them).

- Copy of every single page of your passport, even the empty ones (or passports if you had a few during your stay) for the entire duration of your stay in Malaysia. They will use the stamps in/out to calculate your number of days in the country. (remember that you have to be here 182 days/ year to qualify as a resident).

• If you use the new auto-gate at the airport, you have to ask for a summary of your entry/exit from Putrajaya. I do not know how to request such a thing, because I knew about the tax clearance process from my first stay and would NEVER use the auto gates for that reason ( I wanted my stamps ! ). I have been told it takes approximately 1 month to get this report from Putrajaya immigration department.
• Your tax agent (if you are using one) will need to borrow your passport to show the original one to the tax department or have a commissioner of oath certify true copy the copies you made.
• If like me, your work requires you to be out of Malaysia often and therefore might fall below the 182 days in the country, please ensure that your company is writing down a letter certifying that you were out of the country for Business purpose and specify the dates precisely. The dates should match your passport stamps. There are some allocations for social visits per year as well (I think 14 days). That is, if you are struggling to reach the time required to qualify as resident.

- Your last EA form ( the company should provide this )

- PCB form, which list all the payment / contribution made by the company on your behalf (the company should provide this)

- In/Out form  ( I made an excel version of it to make it easier to calculate the days and also cleaner to read for the officer )

- PC21 form ( your employer HAS TO prepare this one )

- If you are using an agent, you will have a couple of more forms to fill to agree to give him the rights to file your taxes for you. The agent will provide such forms.

You can read what your employer is responsible for on Hasil website to better understand their side of this process.

Note for French citizens: If you end up having to certify true copies your passport pages in France for the purpose of tax clearance. The Malaysian Embassy in Paris charges EUR10 per page for this service. Which when you have 25+ pages to do, is just outrageous. The agent/your company will talk about a notary and that the notary should certify, because in Malaysia it's the Notary or Commissioner of oath that would do these certifications. In France, our notary can do it for a fee too, it's just that it's not their role.
The tax department in Malaysia accepted my certified true copies that my local townhall does FOR FREE.  They will be puzzled by your request but it's their duty to do it. They can also certify true your signature for free.

Closing your EPF and withdrawing the funds

If you were participating into the local EPF retirement scheme, then upon your permanent departure from the country, you are entitled to a full withdrawal.

The documents required are up-to-date and well detailed on their website.

I use to go to the EPF office in Petaling Jaya. It’s just so fast (hardly any queue) and the people there are amazingly helpful. 

Few notes to consider:

- EPF payments are usually made around the 15th of the following month by your company. So if your last salary was on 25th December, your last EPF contribution should be in KWSP system by 15/16th of January. Therefore, if you can, I would recommend waiting around mid-month to close the EPF. I did ask the teller: if you have additional contributions arriving after the EPF account is closed? It will be automatically transferred to your LOCAL bank account that you registered for the full withdrawal.

- Fill the forms with BLACK ink. ( I did mine in Blue and they made me redo all of them… )

- Make sure that you updated your passport information at the bank that will receive the funds as well as in the EPF. Since you might be getting a pretty sum, they will do additional checks, having your ID information matching between these two institutions will help making it smooth.
Always have your latest passport information updated at the EPF when you make a new one. Otherwise, you will need first to update all your datas before proceeding with the withdrawal request.

Preparing the move out – closing your daily services.

These are some additional elements that could be of help to you, it’s non exhaustive, but it may give you pointers on what you should not forget.

Closing your phone postpaid plan

If you are using a postpaid phone plan, as a foreigner you probably had to provide a hefty deposit. I had to for Celcom: RM 500. You need to go to a Celcom Cube (main branches only) and start the cancellation process. The phone number will be immediately cancelled, they will wait the end of the ongoing billing cycle, ask you to pay any balance (if any) and then refund takes about 2 weeks to a Malaysian Bank account only.

I would suggest to change to pre-paid and not to forget updating the bank registered phone number and any OTP systems.

Closing your internet plan

I can only speak for Time internet. You need to notify them 30 days in advance ! Then they will refund you the initial deposit ( provided you are no longer under contract ) within 90 days. But after discussing with them on the phone, their average time of refund is usually within 35 days – I received mine less than 30 days later.

Your last invoice will be sent within 30 days of date of cancellation. To program the end of service, you can do that online in your self-service portal.

If you have finished your contract, they will not come and collect the hardware, it’s considered yours. If you are still on a contract, there are additional penalties and it will be shown when you do the request for end of service and reflected in your last invoice as well.

Various insurance refunds

Most insurances have to refund you the excess paid if you cancel them before their terms. That is the case for your car insurance or health insurance. So do check with them as well. Many insurances that you might have contracted in Malaysia will only apply if you are a Malaysia Resident. Read to fine prints to confirm, because if it’s the case, there is no need to keep them, and you might get some money back.

Touch N Go, Shopee Pay, Grab and other e-wallets

Don’t forget to empty your e-wallets and transfer any funds back to your Malaysian bank accounts before closing them.

Closing your bank account

Since you might still be waiting for funds to arrive after your physical departure of the country ( like your landlord deposit or your tax refund ). You need to approach your bank to ask what is their remote bank account closure process.

Here is what HSBC advised me:

• Get your account to normal or advanced type ( if you were premier before – don’t forget you pay a RM150/month if you don’t have an income of RM15,000 per month for premium Perks@work !)
• Cancel / pay all credit cards soonest and stop spending at least 2 weeks prior.
• When you are ready to close – bring your account balance to 0.
• Send a DHL / Physical Mail to your branch address. This letter should state: Your account number, your name, your passport number (make sure it matches their record), and that your account is now at 0 and that you wish to close it because you are leaving the country.
   

Of course, there are a myriad of other standard move preparations to do that are not Malaysia specific. You can read many of tips and tricks on this article as well. I have also written down a detailed article about how to sell your car in Malaysia.

I hope that you have enjoyed your stay in Malaysia and that you will bring with you beautiful memories of this endearing culture. You will miss the food I am sure 😊 !

Good luck with your next adventure.