# Certificate of Residence Malaysia — Applying Through e-Residence

> How to apply for a Malaysian Certificate of Residence through e-Residence, the documents each applicant type must upload, and why applications get rejected.

- Category: taxation
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/taxation/certificate-of-residence

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The certificate is not proof that you are Malaysian. It is proof that a specific
treaty partner must let you into a specific treaty. LHDN says so on its own page:
the certificate is issued to claim benefits under a double taxation agreement and
avoid double taxation on the same income, and therefore **only** for that purpose
and only with Malaysia's treaty partners. That sentence explains most rejections.

## Establish residence before you apply

The certificate confirms a status determined elsewhere. LHDN points to four
provisions:

| Applicant | Test |
| --- | --- |
| Individual | s.7 of the Income Tax Act 1967 |
| Company, body of persons, LLP, business trust | s.8 of the Income Tax Act 1967 |
| Trust body | s.61(3) of the Income Tax Act 1967 |
| Labuan entity | s.3B of the Labuan Business Activity Tax Act 1990 |

For companies, s.8 turns on where management and control is exercised. Public
Ruling 9/2019 is unforgiving — a Kuala Lumpur board meeting attended by offshore
directors by video conference is held **not** to constitute management and
control, and Malaysian operations, directors and shareholders are expressly
irrelevant. Fix the board process before you apply, not afterwards.

## Applying through e-Residence

Since **1 February 2023** applications for treaty purposes must be made through
e-Residence, so that the receiving foreign tax administration can verify the
certificate directly. For a country with **no** agreement with Malaysia, submit
**Form STM1** with supporting documents by email instead.

## What each applicant type must upload

| Applicant | Supporting documents |
| --- | --- |
| Individual | Passport, all pages. Immigration entry and exit records too where the passport is incomplete, or the holder can use the autogate |
| Company | Board minutes or a director's confirmation that management and control is exercised in Malaysia, plus a current SSM extract of directors and officers |
| Club, association or similar | Management board or AGM minutes, or a confirmation letter, plus a current board extract from the relevant authority |
| LLP | LLP agreement, plus partners' minutes or a confirmation on management and control |
| Partnership | Documents matching each partner's category, plus an extract of the list of partners from the relevant authority |
| Trust body | Trust deed, plus documents matching the trustee's category |
| Business trust | Trust deed, plus a trustee manager's letter confirming it has carried on the business in Malaysia in that capacity and that management and control are exercised here |
| Labuan entity | Passport and entry-exit sheets for non-citizen directors, board minutes, a management-and-control confirmation, Form 25 and Form 27 |

The autogate point is the one people miss. If you clear immigration through the
autogate, your passport carries no stamps and cannot evidence your days in
Malaysia. Pull the Immigration Department movement record before you start.

## Processing, and what you receive

- An acknowledgement slip appears once the application is submitted.
- The certificate is processed within **10 working days** from submission,
  subject to complete and orderly documents.
- Approval arrives by email with a **PIN**.
- The applicant uses the PIN to print the certificate from the e-Residence
  portal.
- The certificate is generated by the portal and **carries no signature** — that
  is by design, and a treaty partner querying the absence of a signature should
  be pointed at the verification facility.
- **No fee** is charged.

## Common mistakes

**Applying with outstanding returns.** LHDN states plainly that an application
will only be processed if all documents have been submitted completely and
properly, **including the submission of a complete and current income tax return**.
An overdue Form C or Form BE stops the application before it is assessed.

**Asking LHDN to sign the counterparty's form.** That service has been
discontinued. The e-Residence certificate is the confirmation.

**Using e-Residence for a non-treaty country.** Use Form STM1 by email instead.

**Sending board minutes that do not show management and control.** A resolution
signed in circulation, or minutes of a meeting whose participants dialled in
from abroad, is exactly the fact pattern Public Ruling 9/2019 rejects.

**Leaving the passport incomplete.** All pages, and the immigration movement
record if there is any gap.

## What's next

Apply early. Ten working days is the processing time, but the evidence — a
properly constituted board meeting in Malaysia, an Immigration movement record,
a current SSM extract — usually takes longer to assemble than the form. Where a
foreign payer needs the certificate to withhold at a treaty rate, it must be in
that payer's hands before the payment, not after.

Queries go to `cor@hasil.gov.my`. Read `company-tax-residence` if there is doubt
that your company passes s.8, and `dta-network` to confirm a treaty exists.

## Sources

- Sijil Taraf Mastautin / e-Residence — https://www.hasil.gov.my/antarabangsa/sijil-taraf-mastautin-e-residence/ (LHDN)
- Income Tax Act 1967 (Act 53), reprint as at 21 May 2024 — ss.7, 8 and 61(3) — https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/20240521-akta-cukai-pendapatan-1967-akta-53.pdf (LHDN)
- Public Ruling No. 9/2019 — Residence Status of Companies and Bodies of Persons — https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/PR_09_2019.pdf (LHDN)

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