Questions, answered.

Two steps, with two different authorities. You incorporate the company federally with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) under the Companies Act 2016, online through the MyCoID portal. You then apply to the local council for the area your premises sits in for a Trading Licence, which no business premises in Sabah may operate without.

Our company registration guide sets out both routes and the order to run them in.

Source: Company registration, this site.

A private limited company — a Sdn Bhd — if you intend to earn revenue in Sabah. It is a separate Malaysian legal entity that can trade, invoice, hold licences and sponsor Employment Passes.

Up to 100% foreign ownership is allowed in most sectors, and the statutory minimum share capital is RM1.

Source: Company registration, this site.

MyCoID processes a complete Sdn Bhd application in one to three working days, and the certificate of incorporation issues on approval. Allow one to two weeks end to end, from first decision to a company that can open a bank account.

The SSM incorporation fee for a company limited by shares is RM1,000.

Sources: Company registration, this site. SSM Table of Fees, ssm.com.my — checked 8 September 2026.

In most sectors you need neither. A wholly foreign-owned Sdn Bhd is standard, and up to 100% foreign ownership is permitted across most sectors.

The exceptions are the regulated sectors, and they carry conditions rather than a blanket bar. Distributive trade is the one most investors meet first: a trading, retail or wholesale business more than 50% foreign-owned needs a Wholesale, Retail & Trade (WRT) licence from MITI and RM1 million paid-up capital.

Some agricultural activities and some professional services carry their own licensing regimes and may require Malaysian participation. Confirm your sector position before you fix the shareholding, not after.

Sources: Company registration and Licences & permits, this site.

Only above the statutory thresholds. A manufacturing licence from MIDA is required if your shareholders’ funds are RM2.5 million or more, or you employ 75 or more full-time paid employees.

Below both thresholds you may apply to MIDA for an exemption instead, through the ICA10 online application.

Source: MIDA, Guideline on Application for Manufacturing Licence, mida.gov.my — checked 8 September 2026.

Four serviced industrial parks, on both coasts. Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP), the state’s largest multi-sector park. Sipitang Oil & Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP), 5,539 acres. Sawit Kinabalu Sandakan Industrial Park (SIP), a palm-oil downstream and biomass hub. POIC Lahad Datu, 4,727 acres.

Tell us your footprint, power draw and logistics requirement, and we will come back with specific parcels rather than a brochure.

Source: Manufacturing, this site.

Yes — and that includes Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak. Sabah controls its own immigration, so an Employment Pass issued for Peninsular Malaysia does not admit or permit work here.

Expatriates need an Employment Pass or Professional Visit Pass approved by the Sabah State Immigration Department, and the employer files it, not the employee.

Source: Visa & immigration, this site.

Sabah retained control of immigration and labour at the formation of the Federation. Three consequences follow, and all three catch new entrants out.

A federal pass is not enough: an Employment Pass issued for Peninsular Malaysia does not admit or permit work here, and the application is lodged in Kota Kinabalu. A Malaysian passport is not by itself a right to work here either — Malaysians from the peninsula or Sarawak need an endorsement or exemption stamp under Section 66 of the Immigration Act. And labour approval is a state matter too: Sabah has its own Labour Ordinance and its own employer licensing for non-resident workers, through eNORES.

Run the labour licence in parallel with incorporation rather than after it, because it gates every pass that follows. Tell us the role and the number of hires and our officers will confirm the exact pass category and document list before anything is filed.

Source: Visa & immigration, this site.

Yes. An Employment Pass holder can bring a spouse and children under 18, including legally adopted children under 18, on a Dependant Pass.

Parents, parents-in-law and children over 18 go on a Long-Term Social Visit Pass instead. In Sabah the pass is issued by the Sabah State Immigration Department.

Sources: Expatriate Services Division, Immigration Department of Malaysia, esd.imi.gov.my — checked 8 September 2026. Visa & immigration, this site.

For most industrial and processing roles, yes. More than 20,000 graduates a year come out of UMS, UiTM, the polytechnics and the TVET network, and intakes can be shaped to a committed employer. Nearly half of Sabah is under 25, and English carries the working day, so there is no translation layer between your managers and the line.

The wider supply base is already here for the industries operating in the state: fabrication and steel out of KKIP, Sepanggar and Lahad Datu; registered Sabah contractors for civil, mechanical and electrical work; palm, timber, aquaculture and food inputs at industrial volume; forwarders, hauliers, cold chain and customs agents on both coasts; and site services — maintenance, security, catering, waste and camp management.

Where a specialist skill genuinely is not present, we work with employers on training and structured knowledge transfer alongside the expatriate approvals, so the dependency is temporary.

Sources: Local content and Why Sabah, this site.

Income tax is federal, administered by the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN). The standard corporate rate is 24%.

A foreign national in Malaysia for fewer than 182 days in the basis year is a non-resident for tax purposes, taxed at a flat 30% and not eligible for personal reliefs.

Sources: LHDN, Tax Rate of Company, hasil.gov.my — checked 8 September 2026. LHDN, Tax Treatment: Residents and Non-Residents, hasil.gov.my — checked 8 September 2026.

The New Investment Incentive Framework (NIF) replaced the old activity-by-activity approach with a single graded assessment. Your project is scored into a quality band — High, Medium or Baseline — then into a tier depending on which conditions you meet, and read against the category your company falls into.

Two schemes, and they are alternatives rather than a package you receive together: a Special Tax Rate, or an Investment Tax Allowance against qualifying capital expenditure. At High quality on the enhanced tier the Special Tax Rate runs at 0% for fifteen years, against ten years under the General category, and the Investment Tax Allowance stays at 100% of qualifying capital expenditure even at Medium quality. A Baseline project receives nothing under the General category but is still eligible on the enhanced tier.

The NIF is administered federally by MIDA. Land premium treatment, infrastructure support and state-level facilitation are negotiated separately with the State Government, and are worth raising in the same conversation rather than after the federal filing.

Figures are indicative and subject to change by the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry and MIDA. Invest Sabah does not administer these incentives.

Source: Incentives, this site.

Yes. Bank Negara Malaysia’s Foreign Exchange Policy states that a non-resident investor is free to repatriate divestment proceeds, profits, dividends or any income arising from investments in Malaysia, and that repatriation is made in foreign currency.

Source: Bank Negara Malaysia, Foreign Exchange Policy, Non-Resident: Investing in Malaysia, bnm.gov.my/fep — checked 8 September 2026.

We are the State’s single window for inbound investment, and the service is offered entirely free of charge.

One officer coordinates the agencies you would otherwise queue for individually, and stays on the file. You are not passed between departments to assemble your own answer.

Sources: About Invest Sabah and Investment guide, this site.

An investment officer responds to a substantive enquiry within one working day, and a first scoping conversation is usually arranged in the same week.

Yes, we arrange site visits, and we bring the park operators, utility providers and district authorities you will want in the room.

Source: Investment guide, this site.

Yes. Aftercare is a standing function, not a courtesy — permit renewals, expansion approvals, additional expatriate posts and blockages with state agencies all come back through the same channel.

The officer who scoped your project stays on the file after you open. There is no handover to a different department.

Source: Investment guide, this site.