Asia’s Premier International Financial Hub
Steps to establish your 
business in Labuan IBFC
01
Choose a structure based on suitable business activities
  1. Company including Protected Cell Company
  2. Partnership
  3. Foundation

Business activities permitted
Trading
Banking
Money broking
Wealth management
Commodity trading
(Re)insurance and insurance related (including captive)
Credit token
Capital market
Leasing
Investment holding
These activities can be established in conventional, digital, and Syariah-compliant forms

Note:
Labuan IBFC offers a wide range of financial products & services. The above are examples of permitted activities.

02
Choose service providers
Labuan Trust
Company (LTC)
Labuan Insurance
Manager
Labuan Underwriting
Manager
Labuan Auditor
03
Choose your company secretary from any of Labuan IBFC’s licensed LTC to assist with business set up
Note:
LTC shall advise the required documents and process for non-license and license applications.
04
Reservation of company name
Company name approval in 24 hours, can be reserved for 3 months
05
Labuan company incorporation or Labuan foreign company registration
06
Visa application (for foreign applicants only) if needed
07
Corporate bank account opening
Will take roughly 4 weeks
08
Business readiness compliance
(to be guided by LTC)
  • Economic substance
  • Statutory account opening (e.g. tax file/EPF)
09
Start business operation
10
Statutory reporting and taxation obligations
  • To observe statutory reporting requirements by Labuan FSA|

  • To comply with taxation obligations. The corporate tax rate is 3% for trading activities and 0% for non-trading activities. 24% will be taxed if the Labuan entities do not qualify to undertake Labuan business activity.

  • Annual tax return needs to be filed with the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board (IRB) by 31 March or at any extended period allowed by the IRB for each year of assessment

Fact-Check

Items

Description

Regulator

Labuan Financial Services Authority - www.labuanfsa.gov.my

Type of company

Trading / Non-trading

Trading / Non-trading

Common

Shelf company availability

No. Economic substance is required in Labuan island depending on the type of business activity

Taxation

0% (Labuan non-trading activities)
3% (Labuan trading activities)

Ownership

No shareholding restriction. Allowing for 100% foreign ownership

Permitted currency of capital

Any currency

Company secretary

To engage from the list of LTC licensed by Labuan FSA

To engage from the list of LTC licensed by Labuan FSA

Able to access Malaysia’s 70+ double taxation agreements*

* Labuan entities enjoy the benefits of most of Malaysia’s tax treaties, but certain treaties have specifically excluded Labuan entities from treaty benefits

Stay ahead of the game
Access a wealth of information from Labuan IBFC from reports on forward-thinking research to insightful articles.
Get in touch
Interested to setup your business in Labuan? Speak to our dedicated advisors to find out more.
Stay ahead of the game
Access a wealth of information from Labuan IBFC from reports on forward-thinking research to insightful articles.
Get in touch
Interested to setup your business in Labuan? Speak to our dedicated advisors to find out more.
Stay ahead of the game
Access a wealth of information from Labuan IBFC from reports on forward-thinking research to insightful articles.
Get in touch
Interested to setup your business in Labuan? Speak to our dedicated advisors to find out more.
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