imho

The Only Guide You Will Need To Start A Limited Liability Partnership In Malaysia

One benefit is that even if the LLP is sued and goes bankrupt one day, creditors cannot come after your personal assets.

Cover image via Smart Investor

So I recently incorporated 'Mr-Stingy' as a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) in my home country of Malaysia. However, before I started, I looked for information online, but I couldn't find anything comprehensive. So for the benefit of everyone who is interested in starting their own company, I have decided to write this guide.

Here's everything I have come to know about starting an LLP.

Image via Smart Investor

Why a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)?

If you haven't heard of an LLP before, it's a new business model.

You can call it the love child between a traditional private limited (Sendirian Berhad) company and a partnership. An LLP offers benefits of a private limited company without its painful reporting requirements.

Private limited companies are great, but they cost a lot, especially for small business owners. Search online, and you'll find companies offering to help set up a private limited company for about RM1,500. And it costs at least RM2,500 per year to maintain (for mandatory expenses like secretary fees, auditor fees and accounting fees).

On the other hand, you can set up an LLP for the price below:

. Company name reservation: RM30
. Registration fees: RM500
. Certificate fees: RM47.70 (including GST)
(The RM500 registration fees don’t include your LLP certificate. As to why someone would register a company without wanting a certificate beats me, but anyway…)
. Total: RM577.70

And it will cost you this much to maintain it yearly:

Annual declaration: RM200

It's a lot cheaper because you don't need to do things like have an Annual General Meeting (AGM), hire a company secretary, and submit audited financial reports.

But why not form a sole proprietorship or partnership instead? They cost much cheaper. Only RM60 per year to start and maintain (RM30 if you're not creative and use your own name).

Because an LLP is a separate legal entity from its partners. It declares its tax separately from its partners (important, because it can help optimize the tax you pay). And then the most important point of all: like a private limited company, an LLP offers limited liability to its partners.

Meaning even if the LLP is sued and goes bankrupt one day, creditors cannot come after your personal assets. But in a conventional sole proprietorship or partnership — they can and they will.

Why not?

Like many things in Malaysia — while the idea behind LLPs is good, the implementation hasn't gone so well. Most people only know the traditional business models like Sole Proprietorship and Private Limited, so getting things done can be troublesome.

Prime Example: I went to buy a car for my LLP recently and the officers at the Road Transportation Department (JPJ) didn't know how to do the vehicle transfer. They had never heard of an LLP before. I had to have several discussions and trips to the JPJ office before I could finally get it done.

But anyway, that's partly why I'm here. To try new things, rough it out, and write about my experiences — hopefully it will make some other person's journey a smoother one. So below is the list of how you start a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) in Malaysia.

1. Register on the MyLLP System

Start by creating an account on the MyLLP system by going to their website here.

MyLLP Login Screen.

Image via Mr-Stingy

Click on the “Sign Up” button beside “I am new to MyLLP”. Then enter your identification number (can be IC, Army or Police) and first name. And click “Register”.

Once you’ve successfully registered on the system, they’ll email you something that looks like this:

Image via Mr-Stingy

Print a copy. You’ll need it for your visit to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia, SSM) office.

2. Make your way to your nearest SSM office

You can find a full list of SSM offices here.

The most convenient one for me is the head office at Menara SSM:

Menara SSM@Sentral
No 7, Jalan Stesen Sentral 5
Kuala Lumpur Sentral, 50623 Kuala Lumpur
Operating Hours: 8:15 AM – 5:15 PM

It’s about five minutes’ walk from the KL Sentral LRT station:

Image via Mr-Stingy

There are pedestrian walkways all the way from KL Sentral to Menara SSM. Walk “through” Sooka Sentral to get there.

It’s a tall, “glass” building, but you see this at ground floor.

Image via Mr-Stingy

You don’t need to register at the main counter on the ground floor. Just grab the lift and head to Level 17 for LLP matters.

3. Take your number and wait for your turn

In my experience, the staff at Menara SSM are efficient. I’ve never had to wait more than half an hour. And usually my number gets called within ten minutes.

Pass the email you printed in Step 1 (and your IC) to the friendly person at the counter. She will verify your registration and then give you your Login ID and Password.

4. Login to the MyLLP system and reserve your LLP name (optional)

At Menara SSM, there's a bunch of computers already hooked up to the MyLLP system. Login to the system using your newly obtained Login ID and Password.

Don’t ask me who the girl is. I didn’t say Hi.

Image via Mr-Stingy

(You could probably do this at home too, but since I was already there — I used the computers provided.)

Click on “Name Registration” and check if anyone else already has your company name. If not, reserve the name and make the RM 30 payment. I used the credit card option to pay.

(The verification and payment steps are identical to the ones in Step 7 and below, so I decided not to include them here).

Image via Mr-Stingy

5. Logout, go home and wait (optional)

I initially thought that I could complete the registration in one day. But after paying to reserve the LLP name, I couldn't find the next step. There was no "Proceed to Registration" button.

Confused, I went to the counter to ask for help.

"You have to wait for three working days," the lady at the counter said, "and then you can do the registration online."

6. Login to MyLLP and register

So I waited a few days. Kept logging in to see the status, but it kept saying "Pending Payment". The strange thing was the system never emailed me or sent me an alert saying my name reservation was complete.

Remember what I said about good ideas, but poor implementation?

I found out later that this is a common problem if you use SSM's computers to do the payment in Step 4. My girlfriend used her personal computer for Step 4, and she immediately got approval to proceed.

This is what I recommend now: Skip Steps 4 and 5 (You will save RM 30 here). And use your own computer to do everything.

Anyway, after a week I couldn't wait any longer so I decided to try anyway. I logged back into MyLLP and clicked on "LLP Registration" >> "General Registration". Then I entered my "Proposed Name" and hit "Search". (The same name I reserved in Step 4).

Finally getting somewhere!

Image via Mr-Stingy

This time, there was a line in green saying “Please proceed to reservation”.

Click on “Proceed”.

7. Clarify your LLP name

The next screen is to clarify your LLP name — if the name is unclear or if it's not in English/Bahasa Malaysia. It also allows you to add details of an authorisation letter.

For example, if you use a name that needs permission from a professional body (accountants, lawyers, secretaries). Leave this blank and click on “Proceed to LLP Registration” if you're just registering a simple LLP like me:

Image via Mr-Stingy

8. Enter your LLP details

The first tab consists of basic information about your business: partnership agreement, address, and nature of your business.

And yes, for you solopreneurs — you can use your home address.

Basic LLP Information.

Image via Mr-Stingy

9. Enter Compliance Officer details

If you’re a solopreneur, this means you.

Image via Mr-Stingy

10. Add your partner(s) information

Image via Mr-Stingy

An LLP needs to have at least two partners…

Image via Mr-Stingy

...but the total number of partners is unlimited!

11. Enter your Business code(s)

Business codes are numbers which help SSM classify what kind of business you’re involved in. You can search for business codes directly on the MyLLP system by keying in keywords. Or find the complete list here.

Image via Mr-Stingy

Choose up to 3 Business Codes.

Image via Mr-Stingy

The closest thing I could find for a blog was “Web Portals”. Once you’re done, declare that you aren’t lying, and click “Pay and Submit”.

12. Make payment

It costs RM500 to register an LLP. You can pay either via credit card or online fund transfer:

1.

Image via Mr-Stingy

2.

Image via Mr-Stingy

3.

Image via Mr-Stingy

4.

Image via Mr-Stingy

13. Check your e-mail

Image via says.com

Congratulations, you’re now the proud owner of a company!

14. Go back to SSM for your Certificates

So you’re now the proud joint-owner of a Limited Liability Partnership, except that you have no proof — other than Mr. LLP Administrator’s email. How will you do things that a company needs to do — like opening a bank account and buying assets?

Right — you’re gonna need your company certificates. But they’re not going to be automatically sent to you. You have to specifically request for them at SSM.

Go back to Level 17, and look for the form below:

Used to cost RM 45. Now RM 47.70. Thanks GST!

Image via Mr-Stingy

Take a number, submit the completed form, and make payment (cash only) at the counter. It’ll take three working days to process. So you’ll have to come back… again!

15. Visit your 'friends' at SSM 3 working days later

Since you’ve spent so much time at SSM, you’ve probably already made some 'friends' there. Go back and pay them a visit.

Take a number, wait for your turn, and collect your certificates at the counter.

It should take less than five minutes once it’s your turn. Like I said before, Menara SSM staff are really efficient.

And then you can give everyone a goodbye hug. Because you’re finally done!

The full article originally appeared at mr-stingy.com.

This story is the personal opinion of the writer. You too can submit a story as a SAYS reader by emailing us at [email protected].

Previously from Aaron:

You may be interested in: