- SSM charges RM1,010 including tax to incorporate a Sdn Bhd, plus RM50 per name reservation. That fee does not change with your paid-up capital.
- Advertised all-in incorporation packages run RM1,300 to RM3,000 in 2026. Realistic year one, including a secretarial retainer, lands between RM1,300 and RM4,800.
- Year two costs more than year one in every scenario I modelled: RM2,600 to RM5,000, because accounting and the annual return start then.
- A Sdn Bhd that earns nothing still costs RM1,600 to RM3,500 a year. Five dormant years is RM8,000 to RM17,500.
- Event-based secretarial charges sit outside most retainers. Six common events in one year add RM990 to RM2,000.
Ask four Malaysian secretarial firms what incorporation costs and you will get four numbers between RM1,300 and RM3,000, all honest, all describing different bundles. The RM1,010 that SSM charges is the only fixed number in the transaction, and on the cheapest package it is 78% of what you pay. On the fully loaded one it is 21%.
How much does it cost to incorporate a Sdn Bhd in Malaysia?
Quick Answer: Budget RM1,300 to RM4,800 for year one. That splits into four layers: SSM statutory fees of RM1,010 to RM1,460, an incorporation package of RM1,300 to RM3,000 that usually absorbs the SSM fee, a secretarial retainer of RM600 to RM1,800 a year, and event-based charges billed per occurrence.
| Layer | What it covers | 2026 range |
|---|---|---|
| 1. SSM statutory | Incorporation RM1,010 incl. tax, name reservation RM50, optional constitution RM200 and stamping RM200 | RM1,010 to RM1,460 |
| 2. Incorporation package | Filing, documents, statutory registers, usually the SSM fee itself | RM1,300 to RM3,000 |
| 3. Secretarial retainer | Annual compliance, a quota of routine work | RM600 to RM1,800/yr |
| 4. Event-based charges | Resolutions, changes, certified copies, billed per event | RM20 to RM500 each |
Statutory figures are SSM’s published fees. Professional ranges are indicative 2026 bands compiled from published Malaysian secretarial fee schedules, retrieved 29 September 2026. Layers 2 and 3 overlap: most packages bundle the first year.
Key takeaway: Ask each firm which layer their quote covers. A RM1,300 quote that excludes the SSM fee and a RM2,400 quote that includes it are RM90 apart, not RM1,100.
What does the RM1,010 actually buy?
Quick Answer: It buys the incorporation filing under section 14 of the Companies Act 2016 and nothing else. The fee is flat at RM1,000 before tax whether your paid-up capital is RM1 or RM1 million, and SSM charges RM50 separately per name reservation, which holds an approved name for 30 days.
The flatness is the part worth understanding, because it inverts the instinct carried over from the sole proprietorship world where fees scale with what you are doing. Under the Registration of Businesses Act 1956 a trade name costs double a personal name because someone screens it. Incorporation under CA 2016 is priced as a single registry act, so a company capitalised at RM1 million pays the same RM1,010 as one capitalised at RM1.
That has a practical consequence founders miss. Setting paid-up capital at RM1 is legal and free, and it is also the number your bank reads when you apply for a corporate account, and the number a prospective client reads on your SSM profile before awarding a contract. The registry does not charge you to look credible. Other people charge you for not looking credible.
Name reservation is optional. Skip it, submit the name inside the incorporation application, and you save RM50 against the risk of a rejection that costs you the queue rather than the fee.
Key takeaway: Decide paid-up capital on what your bank and largest prospective client expect to see, not on the filing fee, which is identical either way.
What do incorporation packages include and exclude?
Quick Answer: Advertised packages run RM1,300 to RM3,000 and typically bundle the SSM fee, document preparation, statutory registers and the first year of secretarial appointment. They exclude accounting, tax filing, and every event-based charge below.
| Event-based charge | Per occurrence |
|---|---|
| Annual return preparation (separate from SSM’s RM150 lodgement) | RM300 to RM500 |
| Board or member resolution beyond quota | RM20 to RM150 |
| Director or shareholder change | RM150 to RM300 |
| Certified true copy | RM20 to RM50 |
| Dividend declaration | RM200 to RM500 |
| Transfer or resignation fee on leaving the firm | RM300 to RM500 |
Indicative 2026 ranges from published Malaysian secretarial fee schedules, retrieved 29 September 2026. Quotas vary by firm; some retainers include a set number of resolutions.
Six of those in a single year adds RM990 to RM2,000 on top of the retainer. That is not unusual for an active company: one director change, one dividend, a couple of resolutions and two certified copies for a bank facility gets you there without anything unusual happening.
The mechanism is the retainer model itself. A firm quoting RM60 a month is pricing a dormant-shaped company and recovering activity through events. A firm quoting RM1,800 a year with a generous resolution quota may cost less for a company that actually trades. The headline retainer tells you almost nothing about which one you are buying, which is why the transfer fee matters: RM300 to RM500 to leave means the cheapest headline can lock you in.
Key takeaway: Ask for the event schedule in writing before signing, and ask specifically what the resolution quota is per year.
Why does year two cost more than year one?
Quick Answer: Year two runs RM2,600 to RM5,000 against year one at RM1,300 to RM4,800. Accounting and tax filing start in year two, and so does the RM150 annual return lodgement plus the RM50 financial statements lodgement, neither of which falls due in your first twelve months.
| Year one | Year two onward | |
|---|---|---|
| Lean | RM1,300 | RM2,600 |
| Typical | RM3,050 | RM3,800 |
| Loaded | RM4,800 | RM5,000 |
Modelled from the layer ranges above. Year one assumes a package absorbing the SSM fee with accounting deferred. Year two assumes annual return RM150, financial statements lodgement RM50, secretarial retainer and accounting. Computed in Python, 29 September 2026. Three-year totals: RM6,500 lean, RM10,650 typical, RM14,800 loaded.
The annual return falls due within 30 days of your incorporation anniversary under section 68, so it lands after your first year has closed. Accounting follows your first financial year end rather than your incorporation date. Both bills therefore arrive in a period when most founders have already decided what the company costs to run, based on the only invoice they have seen.
Audit is the variable that can double year two. Practice Directive 10/2024 phases the exemption thresholds upward, and for a financial year starting during 2026 a private company qualifies on revenue and assets of RM2 million with 20 employees, rising to RM3 million and 30 employees for years starting on or after 1 January 2027. Most small Sdn Bhds now sit inside that exemption, which is a recent and material change to this arithmetic.
What does a dormant Sdn Bhd cost?
Quick Answer: RM1,600 to RM3,500 a year, earning zero. That covers the RM150 annual return, the RM50 financial statements lodgement, a secretarial retainer of RM600 to RM1,800, and dormant accounts and tax filing at RM800 to RM1,500.
Call it the dormancy floor: the minimum a Sdn Bhd costs when it does nothing at all. Three dormant years is RM4,800 to RM10,500. Five is RM8,000 to RM17,500.
This is the number that catches people who incorporate early. A company set up for a venture that never launched does not go quiet when you stop trading. It keeps generating statutory obligations, and the secretary keeps filing them, because section 68 does not have a revenue test. The obligation attaches to the entity, not to its activity.
Two responses are cheaper than paying the floor indefinitely. Striking off removes the entity and the obligations with it, and is the right move for a company you are confident you will not use. Keeping a shell alive to preserve a name or a registration history is a legitimate choice, but it should be a priced decision at RM1,600 to RM3,500 a year rather than an unexamined default. If you are holding a shell because restarting feels like work, five years of floor is RM8,000 against an incorporation that costs RM1,010 to redo.
Key takeaway: Put the dormancy floor in your own calendar as an annual line item. It is the only cost here that continues while revenue is zero.
When is incorporating the wrong call?
Quick Answer: When your three-year total cost of ownership, RM6,500 lean to RM14,800 loaded, buys you nothing a sole proprietorship at RM30 to RM60 a year would not.
I will be direct, since most content on this topic is published by firms that sell incorporation packages. Incorporating for credibility alone is the trap I see most often. The RM1,010 is trivial; the RM10,650 typical three-year total is not, and it buys a structure that delivers nothing unless at least one of four things is true: you retain profit in the business, you carry liability nobody will ask you to personally guarantee, you need financing or equity, or a client contractually requires a company.
Our comparison of sole proprietorship, Sdn Bhd and LLP runs the crossover arithmetic on the first of those and puts the tax advantage well above the RM100,000 profit figure commonly quoted.
Two honest counterpoints against my own position. Converting later is not free: contracts, licences, bank accounts and supplier records all need re-papering, and the council licence usually has to be reapplied for in the company’s name, so a business certain of incorporating within a year is often better off starting there. And for foreign-owned structures the arithmetic changes entirely, since nominee director arrangements alone are estimated at RM5,000 to RM12,000 a year in published guides, which makes the RM1,010 genuinely irrelevant to that decision.
Key takeaway: Price the three-year total, not the incorporation fee, and name which of the four justifications applies to you before you file.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does SSM charge to incorporate a Sdn Bhd in 2026? RM1,010 including tax, from a base fee of RM1,000 under the Companies Act 2016. Name reservation through MyCoID is RM50 per application and holds an approved name for 30 days. An optional constitution costs RM200 and stamping RM200. The fee does not vary with paid-up capital.
Can I incorporate a Sdn Bhd myself without a company secretary? You can lodge the incorporation yourself through MyCoID, but section 236 requires a licensed company secretary within 30 days of incorporation, and the penalty for non-compliance runs to RM50,000. Most founders use a package because the secretary has to be appointed regardless, so the marginal cost of having them file is small.
What is the minimum paid-up capital for a Sdn Bhd in Malaysia? RM1. There is no statutory minimum under the Companies Act 2016. Banks assessing a corporate account application and clients reviewing your SSM profile will form a view at that level, and Employment Pass applications carry their own capital expectations depending on equity structure, so the legal minimum and the practical minimum differ.
How long does Sdn Bhd incorporation take? Name reservation takes one to three working days. Incorporation through MyCoID is typically approved within one to three working days after payment, assuming clean documents. Budget a further one to three weeks for a corporate bank account, which is usually the slowest step and the one that gates actually trading.
Do I still pay if my Sdn Bhd is dormant? Yes. RM1,600 to RM3,500 a year, covering the RM150 annual return, RM50 financial statements lodgement, secretarial retainer and dormant accounts. Section 68 has no revenue test, so the obligation attaches to the entity regardless of activity. Striking off is the alternative if you are confident the company will not be used.
What is a transfer fee and why does it matter? A charge of RM300 to RM500 levied by some secretarial firms when you move your company file to another firm. It matters because it converts a low headline retainer into a switching cost. Ask whether one applies before signing, alongside the resolution quota and the event-based fee schedule.
What to do before you file
Get three written quotes and ask each firm the same three questions: does this include the RM1,010 SSM fee, how many resolutions does the retainer cover per year, and is there a transfer fee if I leave. Those three answers convert four incomparable numbers into a like-for-like comparison, and they cost nothing to ask.
Then price the three-year total rather than the incorporation. Our guides to what a hire actually costs, payroll software pricing and government grants you may qualify for price the rest of the first year in ringgit, and the SSM registration guide covers the filing steps for all three business structures.
