Malaysia Forest City Offers 5% Tax Rate to Fintech Firms

The Forest City fintech tax incentive will give eligible financial technology companies and related service providers access to a 5% corporate tax rate in Malaysia’s Forest City Special Financial Zone.

The incentive is available for 10 years and may be extended for a further decade, subject to approval and continued compliance.

Eligible businesses include fintech companies, financial global business services providers and foreign payment system operators.

Qualifying activities must be conducted on Pulau 1 and involve technologies including artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, cybersecurity or automation.

Applications will be processed by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation and assessed by the National Committee on Investment.

The programme is separate from Malaysia Digital Status and national tax incentives, meaning companies cannot claim multiple tax benefits for the same qualifying activity.

The measure forms part of Malaysia’s effort to attract technology-enabled financial services investment to Forest City.