Berhad Incorporation Costs in Malaysia: Fees to Budget

The official charges behind a new Berhad

A share-limited Berhad using direct registration has MYR 1,010 in incorporation and data-sharing charges before professional services or other filings. A separate initial name reservation adds MYR 50. The figures below were verified on November 5, 2026 against the SSM fee schedule and its current local incorporation instructions .

The table shows SSM's listed charges. Taxes on professional services must be stated in the service quotation. The initial direct-registration subtotal is MYR 1,000 + MYR 10 = MYR 1,010; with one separate reservation it is MYR 1,060. Where the section 190 declaration applies, the corresponding government-only amounts become MYR 1,510 and MYR 1,560. None is a full Berhad setup price.

Section 190 concerns a public company with share capital and its entitlement to start business or borrow. The supporting requirements depend on the prospectus route; for the no-prospectus route, address the statement in lieu and declaration requirements with the secretary before commencing. The Companies Act 2016, sections 188–190 supplies the legal conditions. Incorporation and entitlement to commence business are separate checks.

Do not add the MYR 500 section 41 conversion fee to a fresh incorporation: that charge concerns changing an existing company's public or private status. Similarly, the MYR 3,000 incorporation fee for a guarantee company is not the share-company fee. Any prospectus, securities offer, listing or specialist approval work needs a separate scope rather than a presumed inclusion.

Professional work that needs its own price

Obtain a written quotation that expressly covers an unlisted public company limited by shares. An advertised private-company setup price does not establish what a Berhad engagement costs. No single professional tariff follows from SSM's fee schedule, and government-only arithmetic cannot fill an unquoted service line.

• Formation work: structure review, due diligence, application preparation, consents, submission and responses to SSM queries.
• Public-company commencement: applicable statement in lieu, declaration preparation, signing arrangements, lodgement and retained evidence.
• Secretarial appointment: service start date, included registers and updates, shareholder communications, board support and meeting administration.
• Registered office: service period, public access, record inspection, mail handling and forwarding charges.
• Additional work: bespoke constitutional provisions, overseas corporate-shareholder records, required certification or translation and extra signatories.

The SSM incorporation guidance requires at least two directors ordinarily resident in Malaysia for a public company. The SSM starting-company requirements require secretary appointment within 30 days after incorporation. Founders who satisfy the residence requirement themselves have a different service need from an overseas group seeking additional director arrangements.

For secretarial scope , compare included events rather than the monthly headline: extra allotments, ownership changes and meetings can create additional work. The discussion of what a secretary's service fee covers helps identify those components; private-company price examples there should not be adopted as Berhad rates.

Ask HSJGlobal for a Berhad-specific written fee proposal stating currency, service period, deliverables and exclusions. Identify government disbursements and any third-party invoices separately. For each professional line, the proposal should state whether SST applies and whether the displayed amount includes it; do not apply a blanket percentage to every item. The same cash request can otherwise mix expenses, a conditional refund and funds the company retains.

Reconcile an incorporation quote without double counting

Start with the provider's gross invoice amount, including any tax actually charged. Then add only government payments and third-party costs payable outside that invoice. An included government charge must appear once in the cash budget. If the engagement includes the MYR 1,000 fee but excludes the MYR 10 charge or commencement lodgement, show those exclusions explicitly.

Use a single budget window, such as incorporation to the first anniversary. For every invoice, enter the payment date and the dates the service covers. A six-month introductory appointment and a twelve-month retainer are not comparable until the remaining months are priced. A later annual filing may fall outside the chosen window; record its due date rather than forcing it into an arbitrary first-year total.

1. Mark every government item as included, separately payable or inapplicable, and keep the filing reason beside it.
2. List gross professional and third-party amounts due in the window, attaching the accepted quote or invoice.
3. Add outside-invoice charges once; move deposits and company funding into separate cash schedules.
4. Leave the overall total unapproved while a required service remains unpriced, and identify who will supply that price.

A quote that says only 'SSM included' needs clarification: incorporation, commencement and annual lodgements are distinct transactions. Equally, 'bank assistance' should identify the actual document or support delivered. It does not establish that an account will open or that every subsequent bank request is included.

Keep capital and refundable deposits out of fee totals

Paid-up capital is shareholder funding of the company, not the secretary's incorporation fee. Set the funding amount against the business plan and any applicable licensing, banking or immigration conditions. A public-company label alone is not a sound basis for inventing a universal capital minimum.

The distinction between capital requirements, entity selection and supporting registrations belongs in the broader Malaysia company registration planning process . Keep the share subscription evidence and movement of funds separate from supplier invoices so the budget can be reconciled to both the corporate records and the bank account.

A refundable deposit requested under a director-service agreement is a separate contractual exposure. Obtain the amount, who holds it, the refund trigger, deduction rights, termination procedure and release timing in writing. Do not describe the deposit as an SSM charge, and do not assume it is available for operating expenses while another party holds it.

Treat premises deposits and bank balances similarly according to their actual terms. Record any restricted or unavailable funds, then check whether paid-in capital already provides the intended working cash. Adding the full capital contribution and the same funded operating spend as two independent cash injections overstates the funding requirement.

Budget the first compliance cycle separately

For a cycle in which both filings are due, SSM's public-company annual-return charge of MYR 500 and audited financial-report lodgement charge of MYR 200 total MYR 700. That is a government-filing subtotal, not an annual maintenance price. The official fee table distinguishes these public-company charges from the lower private-company amounts; figures were checked November 5, 2026.

Budget separately for bookkeeping, financial-statement preparation, the public company's audit arrangements, tax work, secretarial services and meeting administration. Sections 271 and 340 of the Companies Act address public-company auditors and AGMs. Do not build a Berhad budget around a private-company audit-exemption offer or assume that an annual-return charge covers the AGM.

• Ask the accountant and auditor to price the expected transactions, reporting period, records, group relationships and complexity separately.
• Ask the secretary to identify AGM notices, minutes, attendance arrangements, statutory filings and out-of-scope events.
• Record office and director-service renewals independently, including any change in fees after an introductory period.
• Add payroll, licence renewals, SST or e-Invoice work only when the business's actual obligations require those services.

Map each due payment to a responsible person and evidence of completion: a service invoice is evidence of payment, while a filing receipt confirms lodgement. Revisit the schedule when the financial year, transaction volume, ownership or activity changes. Licence, listing, fundraising and immigration projects require their own budgets and approval decisions.

Approve a Berhad budget only when each amount has an owner

Approve the formation spend when the legal form, incorporation route, commencement requirements and service deliverables match one dated schedule. The official subtotals can anchor that schedule, but they cannot turn an unpriced professional engagement into a complete quotation.

Before authorising payment, obtain the Berhad-specific fee proposal, confirm taxes and disbursements, assign the recurring compliance work and document any deposit refund terms. Keep company funding in its own cash plan. If a required service, responsibility or amount is missing, resolve that line before accepting an all-in price.