REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX ACT 1976

LAWS OF MALAYSIA ONLINE VERSION OF UPDATED TEXT OF REPRINT Act 169 REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX ACT 1976 As at 1 January 2026 This text is ONLY AN UPDATED TEXT of the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 by the Attorney General’s Chambers. Unless and until reprinted pursuant to the powers of the Commissioner of Law Revision under subsection 14(1) of the Revision of Laws Act 1968 [Act 1], this text is NOT AN AUTHENTIC TEXT. 2 REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX ACT 1976 Date of Royal Assent … … … ... 18 March 1976 Date of publication in the Gazette … … … ... 25 March 1976 Latest amendment made by Act 875 which came into operation on … … … ... See section 6 Act 875 PREVIOUS REPRINTS First Reprint ... ... ... 1998 Second Reprint ... ... ... 2001 Third Reprint ... ... ... 2006 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 169 REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX ACT 1976 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title and commencement 2. Interpretation PART II IMPOSITION OF THE TAX 3. Taxation of chargeable gains 4. Rate of tax 5. Situation of interests, options, etc. 6. Chargeable persons 7. Chargeable gains and allowable losses 8. Private residence 9. Exemptions PART III ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION 10. Year of assessment 11. Chargeable person to be assessed on chargeable gains 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 169 Section 12. (Deleted) 13. Returns 13A. Amendment of return 14. Assessments 15. Additional assessments 15A. Deemed assessment on the amended return 16. Cases where acquirer may be assessed 16A. Discharge of double assessments 17. Notice of assessment 18. Right of appeal 19. Relief in respect of error or mistake 19A. Relief other than in respect of error or mistake 20. Finality of assessment 21. Payment of the tax 21A. Certificate of non-chargeability 21B. Duty of acquirer to retain and pay part of the consideration 21C. Tax payable notwithstanding institution of proceedings under any other written law 22. Recovery from persons leaving Malaysia 23. Recovery by suit 24. Refund of overpayments 24A. Fund for Tax Refund 25. Anti-avoidance provisions 26. Remission PART IV INVESTIGATORY AND PENAL 27. Power to call for information, etc. 28. Power of access to buildings and documents, etc. Real Property Gains Tax Section 28A. Power to call for specific returns and production of books 28B. Power to call for statement of bank accounts, etc. 28C. Duty to keep documents for ascertaining chargeable gain and tax payable 29. Failure to notify or make return of disposal 30. Incorrect returns, etc. 31. Wilful evasion 32. Leaving Malaysia without payment of tax, sums or debt 33. Obstruction of officers 34. Breach of secrecy 35. Offences by officials and unauthorized collection 36. Other offences 37. Additional provisions as to offences under section 30, 32, 33 or 36 38. Tax payable notwithstanding proceedings 39. (Deleted) 40. Compounding of offences and abatement of penalties 41. Recovery of penalties 42. Jurisdiction of subordinate court PART V ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPLEMENTAL 43. The Director General 43A. Power to issue guidelines 44. Power of Minister to give directions to Director General 45. Delegation of Director General’s functions 46. Identification of officials 47. Certain materials to be treated as confidential 48. Evidential provisions 48A. Admissibility of electronic record 49. Returns, etc., presumed to be made with due authority 50. Persons by whom returns to be made 5 6 Laws of Malaysia Section 51. Power to appoint agent 52. Errors and defects in assessments, etc. 53. Service of notices 54. Power to direct where returns, etc., are to be sent 55. Authentication of notices and other documents 56. Free postage 57. Forms 57A. Electronic medium 57B. Tax identification number 58. Power to make rules 59. Repeal of Act 126 SCHEDULE 1 SCHEDULE 2 SCHEDULE 3 SCHEDULE 4 SCHEDULE 5 ACT 169 7 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 169 REAL PROPERTY GAINS TAX ACT 1976 An Act to provide for the imposition, assessment and collection of a tax on gains derived from the disposal of real property and matters incidental thereto. [7 November 1975] BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I PRELIMINARY Short title and commencement 1. This Act may be cited as the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976, and shall be deemed to have come into force on 7 November 1975. Interpretation 2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “accountant” means an accountant as defined in subsection 153(3) of the Income Tax Act 1967 [Act 53]; 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 169 “acquire” includes, subject to subsection (4), acquire by way of purchase, grant, exchange, gift, settlement or otherwise; “allowable loss” has the meaning assigned by section 7; “assessment” means any assessment or additional assessment made under this Act; “asset” includes an interest or right in or over an asset; “authorized officer” means an officer appointed or authorized under section 45 to exercise any function of the Director General or to exercise or assist in exercising any such function; “body of persons” means an unincorporated body of persons (not being a company) including a Hindu joint family but excluding a partnership; “business” includes profession, vocation and trade and any manufacture, adventure or concern in the nature of trade; “business trust” has the meaning assigned to it in the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 [Act 671]; “chargeable gain” has the meaning assigned by section 7; “chargeable person” means a person chargeable with the tax; “company” means a body corporate and includes any body of persons established with a separate legal identity by or under the laws of a territory outside Malaysia and a business trust; “consideration” means consideration in money or money’s worth; “control”, in relation to a company, means control of the kind described in section 139 of the Income Tax Act 1967; Real Property Gains Tax 9 “co-proprietor” and “co-proprietorship” have the meaning respectively assigned to them by the *National Land Code [Act 56 of 1965]; “Director General” means the Director General of Inland Revenue or any authorized officer; “dispose” means, subject to subsection (4), sell, convey, transfer, assign, settle or alienate whether by agreement or by force of law; “executor” means the executor, administrator or other person administering the estate of a deceased person; “gain” means— (a) gain other than gain or profit chargeable with or exempted from income tax under the income tax law; or (b) in the case of a unit trust, gain not treated as income under the income tax law; “Hindu joint family” means what in any system of law prevailing in India is known as a Hindu joint family or a coparcenary; “incapacitated person” means a minor or a person adjudged under any law to be in a state of unsoundness of mind (however described); “income tax” includes any tax of a substantially similar character (by whatever name called) imposed in Malaysia; “income tax law” means the law in force in Malaysia regulating income tax; “Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia” means the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia established under the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia Act 1995 [Act 533]; *NOTE—Previously known as the National Land Code [Act 56 of 1965] has been revised and was named the National Land Code [Act 828] which comes into operation on 15 October 2020. 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 169 “input tax” has the meaning assigned to it in the *Goods and Services Tax Act 2014 [Act 762]; “land” includes— (a) the surface of the earth and all substances forming that surface; (b) the earth below the surface and substances therein; (c) buildings on land and anything attached to land or permanently fastened to anything attached to land (whether on or below the surface); (d) standing timber, trees, crops and other vegetation growing on land; and (e) land covered by water; “limited liability partnership” means a limited liability partnership registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2012 [Act 743]; “option” includes an option in a case where— (a) the grantor binds himself to sell what he does not own and, because the option is abandoned, never has occasion to own; and (b) the grantor binds himself to buy what, because the option is abandoned, he does not acquire; “output tax” has the meaning assigned to it in the *Goods and Services Tax Act 2014; “partnership” means an association of any kind (including joint adventures, syndicates and cases where a party to the association is *NOTE—Goods and Services Tax Act 2014 [Act 762] has been repealed by the Goods and Services Tax (Repeal) Act 2018 [Act 805] w.e.f. 1 September 2018—see P.U. (B) 510/2018. Real Property Gains Tax 11 itself a partnership) between parties who have agreed to combine any of their rights, powers, property, labour or skill for the purpose of carrying on a business and sharing the profits therefrom, but excludes a Hindu joint family although such a family may be a partner in a partnership; “permanent resident” means a person treated as such under any written law relating to immigration; “person” includes a company, a partnership, a body of persons, limited liability partnership and a corporation sole; “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under section 58 or, in relation to a form, prescribed under section 57; “precedent partner” has the meaning assigned by paragraph 86(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1967; “real property” means any land situated in Malaysia and any interest, option or other right in or over such land; “resident” means resident in Malaysia for the purposes of the Income Tax Act 1967, except that references to basis year or basis year for a year of assessment in that Act shall be read as references to a year of assessment under this Act; “shares” means all or any of the following: (a) stock and shares in a company; (b) loan stock and debentures issued by a company or any other corporate body, wherever incorporated; (c) a member’s interest in a company not limited by shares whether or not it has a share capital; (d) any option or other right in, over or relating to shares as defined in paragraphs (a) to (c); 12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 169 “Special Commissioners” means the Special Commissioners of Income Tax appointed under section 98 of the Income Tax Act 1967; “tax” means the tax imposed by this Act; “valuer” means any person lawfully carrying on the business of valuing or appraising the value of real property; “wife” means a woman who (whether or not she has gone through any religious or other ceremony) is regarded by virtue of any law or custom as the wife of a man or as one of his wives; “year of assessment” has the meaning assigned by section 10. (2) References in this Act to this Act or to any other written law includes references to any subsidiary legislation made thereunder. (3) Unless the context otherwise requires, a reference in this Act to the acquisition or disposal of a building includes a reference to the acquisition or disposal of the land on which the building stands. (4) Where any land which is held by two or more persons as co-proprietors is partitioned so as to vest in each of them, under a separate title, a portion of the land of an area proportionate as nearly as may be to his undivided share in the whole, the partition of the land shall not be regarded for the purposes of this Act as involving the acquisition or disposal of any part of or interest in the land by any such person. PART II IMPOSITION OF THE TAX Taxation of chargeable gains 3. (1) A tax, to be called real property gains tax, shall be charged in accordance with this Act in respect of chargeable gain accruing on the Real Property Gains Tax 13 disposal of any