Income Tax 2008 Submission

Every year when around end of April, all the people will be busy to look for all the receipts of previous year. Looking for receipts for what? To declare income tax. Income tax submission is on 30 April every year. When around this day, all the LHDN (Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri) offices will be crowded from day to night.

Despite of old days, now we can submit the tax online, by using e-filing. After filing the tax, we can make the payment online as well, using online banking. This is really a convenient way for us. No need to take leave to go to the LHDN office. No need looking for parking. If do not want to take leave, then need to go there after work. By using e-filing, we can settle everything at home or at office. I just file my tax online, just takes me half an hour.

What do we need to prepare before doing the tax filing? The most important document is the EA form. From the EA form, you can actually key in the total salary, allowance, and your EPF contribution. Just be aware that this year is a bit different in the allowance, where some of the allowances are tax-exempted allowance, such as internet allowance, petrol card, and so forth. After that, compile all your receipts. The items can be used for tax deduction are books and magazine (max RM1000), sport item (max RM300), life insurance (max RM6000 together with EPF), medical insurance (max RM3000), computer (max RM3000 once every 3 year), parents’ medical bills (max RM5000), medical check-up fee (max RM500), and other donation to charity (max 7% of total income). So, by having all these amount, you just key in the figure online, then it will calculate your taxable income automatically as well as the tax amount that you need to pay.

Beside, you also need to key in all the dividends that you get last year, as we can claim back the exceeded tax if we are not in the 26% tax bracket. Just compile all your dividend voucher and key in all the information according to the online form, the exceeded tax will be calculated automatically.

Doubtful that if you need to declare income tax? Just take your total income last year (salary + bonus) minus the EPF contribution, if exceed RM24,000, you will need to declare tax. It is always a good practice to declare tax even you are not entitled to pay tax yet.

Going to submit but do not know how to do e-filing? Refer to the website, the guide is quite clear, https://spsd.hasil.gov.my/PKI/e/mainpage.html.

30 April 2009….another 8 days to go!!!

ASM and ASW2020

Following the Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat, the government again announces for the additional units of Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) and Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW2020). The additional 3.3 billion units of ASM can be subscripted on 21 April 2009 onwards, and the additional 2 billion units of ASW2020 will be available for subscription on 27 April 2009 onwards.

These two funds are different from the other normal unit trust funds, where their NAV is always RM1.00. The minimum initial investment will be 100 units and the maximum investment per pax is 20,000 units. Both funds are equity funds, but the risk is much lower than the other normal unit trust funds, as they are “guaranteed” by the government. ASM has delivered a per unit income distribution of 6.75 sen, 6.8 sen and 7.8 sen while ASW2020 gave a per unit income distribution of 6.8 sen, 8 sen and 7 sen for years 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. So, the average returns for these funds are ranged 6% to 8%.

ASM and ASW2020 can be bought at all the ASNB offices, Post Office, Maybank, CIMB Bank and RHB Bank.

For detailed information, can refer to http://www.asnb.com.my/.
For ASM: http://www.asnb.com.my/asm.htm
For ASW2020: http://www.asnb.com.my/asw.htm

Personally, I should say these funds are suitable for those who do not want to bear the high risk as normal unit trust funds. Their return is almost same as the normal moderate risk unit trust funds, and they are much more stable. The difference is very obvious when we compare the return of ASM/ASW2020 with the normal unit trust funds for year 2007 and year 2008. In 2007, most of the normal equity funds give return of 40%-60% in a year, while ASM and ASW2020 give return of 7%-8% in a year. In 2008, there is the economy crisis and most of the share markets drop. Normal equity funds suffer loss of 20%-30% in a year generally, but ASM and ASW2020 still give return of 6%-7%.

So, depends on yourself, see which funds are suitable for you. For those who are thinking to invest in low risk funds like bond funds, this is actually a much better choice. Although ASM and ASW2020 are equity funds, their risk is as low as bond funds (or I can say their risk is lower than bond funds), and their return is definitely higher than bond funds. The only drawback is, you need to queue in the post office or banks to buy the units. However, recently the market is so bad, there is not many people actually queuing for these funds. In old days, 1 billions unit of ASW2020 can be sold out within half an hour countrywide. If you’re interested to have it, just go to the said banks to grab it.

Historical Performance of Malaysia Equity Funds (31 March 2009)

(Bracket indicates negative value)

1 year:

1. Saham Amanah Sabah – (3.57%)
2. MAA Capital Guaranteed 2 – (7.63%)
3. MAA Capital Guaranteed 1 – (8.07%)
4. MAA Capital Guaranteed 3 – (8.12%)
5. PRUlink Guaranteed Account – (8.73%)
6. MAA Capital Gtd Asia Pacific – (9.58%)
7. HLG European Dividend-Growth – (11.30%)
8. MAA Platinum – (12.26%)
9. Mayban Life Property Plus CG – (13.11%)
10. HLG Vietnam – (15.07%)
11. Areca Equity Trust – (17.85%)
12. OSK-UOB Malaysia Dividend – (18.30%)
13. HwangDBS Glo Emerging Markets – (18.34%)
14. AMB Value Trust – (18.89%)
15. AMB Ethical Trust – (19.81%)
16. HLG Consumer Products Sector – (20.14%)
17. HLG Global Healthcare – (20.84%)
18. Uni Strategic – (20.93%)
19. OSKUOB Equity – (21.15%)
20. Apex Small Cap – (21.45%)


3 year: (Annualized Return)

1. AMB Value Trust – 17.91%
2. OSK-UOB Smart Treasure – 16.74%
3. AMB Ethical Trust – 16.33%
4. Uni Aggressive – 13.71%
5. Saham Amanah Sabah – 12.95%
6. OSK-UOB Emerg Oppty – 12.55%
7. CMS Islamic – 12.01%
8. Public SmallCap – 11.96%
9. Allianz Life Dynamic Growth – 11.59%
10. Uni Strategic – 11.51%
11. Allianz Life Equity – 11.38%
12. MAAKL Al-Fauzan – 9.46%
13. MAAKL Growth – 9.21%
14. Manulife Equity – 8.41%
15. CIMB Principal Equity – 8.25%
16. PB Growth – 8.13%
17. OSK-UOB Equity – 8.09%
18. MAAKL Al-Faid – 7.87%
19. Kenanga Syariah Growth – 7.76%
20. OSK-UOB Small Cap Opportunity – 7.71%


5 Year: (Annualized Return)

1. AMB Value Trust – 10.70%
2. PB Growth – 9.46%
3. AMB Ethical Trust – 8.56%
4. Public SmallCap – 8.04%
5. OSK-UOB Equity – 7.28%
6. Pacific Dividend – 6.90%
7. Manulife Equity – 6.82%
8. MAAKL Al-Faid – 6.77%
9. MAA Capital Guaranteed 1 – 6.16%
10. Public Savings – 5.90%
11. Kenanga Syariah Growth – 5.24%
12. Saham Amanah Sabah – 5.18%
13. Public Islamic Equity – 5.07%
14. Alliance Dana Adib – 5.00%
15. HLG Consumer Products Sector – 4.83%
16. OSK-UOB KLCI Tracker – 4.61%
17. Public Ittikal – 4.59%
18. Kenanga Growth – 4.54%
19. Public Aggressive Growth – 4.52%
20. CIMB Islamic DALI Equity – 4.37%


Source: Lipperweb

Click here for previous month performance.

Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat 2009

Our Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib has announced the mini budget of RM60billion earlier to stimulus the economy. One of the programme in this budget is the Sukuk Simpanan Rakyat 2009 (Islamic Bond). The objective of this bond is to give a chance to people to earn some income during this economy crisis period, where most of the people not dare to invest in equity.

This bond is opened for all Malaysian above 21 year old, and the minimum investment is RM1,000, while the maximum investment is RM50,000 per investor. The bond will be launched at 14 May 2009, but the offer period is from 14 April 2009 to 13 May 2009. The agent for this offer will be all the commercial banks, including Bank Islam, Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), and Bank Pertanian Malaysia. Commercial banks are banks like Maybank, Public Bank, CIMB Bank, EON Bank, Ambank, RHB Bank and so forth.

The maturity period of this bond is 3 years from the issue date. Interest will be paid out quarterly with 5% interest per annum. This means that if you invest RM1,000 into it, you will receive RM12.50 every quarter, until the bond is matured after 3 years. After 3 years, you will get back your initial investment, which is RM1,000. So, in total you will receive RM150 of interest during these 3 years.

For more detailed, you can refer to the Bank Negara website:
Feature: http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=226&pg=731&ac=672
FAQ: http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=226&pg=731&ac=674

Personally thinking, this bond is suitable for those who not able to take risk at all. At this time, bond with 5% is really not bad, as the Fixed Deposits interest rate now is only 2.5% per annum. However, during this economy crisis, stocks market has dropped quite a lot, and most of the stocks now are at fair value level, and some even are undervalued. For those who can bear the risk and looking for higher return, should consider to invest in equity instead of this bond.