Latest BLR rate of banks in Malaysia as of Mar-2009

Within a short period of time since the last revision in early February 2009, BNM has cut the OPR again by another 50 basis points to 2.00% and SRR to 1.0%, effective 1 March 2009.

Here are their latest BLR rate as of today (6 March 2009):

• Majority of the banks: 5.55%
• Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (M) Berhad: 5.25%
• J.P. Morgan Chase Bank Berhad: 5.25%
• The Royal Bank of Scotland Berhad: 5.25%
• Affin Bank: 5.50%
• Citibank Berhad: 5.60%

It seems that Citibank is having the highest BLR rate, which is at 0.05% above the majority.

The interest rate is really cheap now. Let's say you have a house loan with rate of BLR-2% and the BLR of your bank is 5.55%, this mean your house loan interest serving will be 3.55% only.

With the interest of 3.55%, assuming you are borrowing RM100k, here are some simple calculations (until the next BLR revision which will affect the interest rate):

• 10 years term, monthly repayment = RM991.20, total interest = RM18,994.31
• 20 years term, monthly repayment = RM582.53, total interest = RM39,807.75
• 30 years term, monthly repayment = RM451.84, total interest = RM62,662.54
  

Notice that with this low interest rate, the monthly repayment amount is likely to be lower than renting a house/apartment, especially in urban areas where the rental is higher.

This mean that if you are currently renting a house/apartment, you should consider buying one for yourself; and if you are a property investor, now is a good time to buy more properties to rent out, as the collected rental can probably cover your monthly repayment, and might even let you earn some surplus pocket money.

You can always click here for the latest BLR info of the banks.

eLawyer Law Conference 2009 about Blogging & Law

Malaysian online legal community eLawyer is organizing a Law Conference 2009 themed "Blogging & Law" to bring legal awareness to fellow bloggers.

Theme: Blogging and Law
Date: 14 March 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 9.30am – 12.30pm
Admission: free of charge
Venue: Auditorium Tun Mohd Suffian, Universiti Malaya Law Faculty
R.S.V.P: send your name, phone, email, occupation and organisation details to forum@elawyer.com.my

During the conference, Mr. Foong Cheng Leong (KL Lawyer & Blogger) will talk about Blogging & Intellectual Property Law in Malaysia, while En. Nizam Bashir (Malacca Lawyer & Blogger) will talk on Blogging & Defamation Law in Malaysia.

Click here for more information about the eLawyer Law Conference 2009.

Click here to visit to Foong Cheng Leong's blog

Click here to visit to Nizam Bashir's blog

e-Filing system for 2008 income tax assessment is ready to be used

Begining 1 March 2009, the e-Filing system for income tax forms BE, B, M, P and E has been made available in the website of Inland Revenue Board (a.k.a. Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri, LHDN).

In Malaysia, the various income tax related forms are:

• BE - For residents who are employed with no business ownership, or who run business with no income source
• B - For residents who run business with source of income
• M - Return form for non-resident
• P - Partnership business statement form
• E - Return form for employer
• C - Return form for company
• R - Statement of company's revised 108 balance

Online module for tax agent firms to file the income tax report for their clients is also made available at the same time.

The deadline to file in the BE Form is on 30 April 2009, and the deadline for B Form is on 30 June 2009. You can either use the e-Filing system to submit the form, or fill up the related paper form and send to Inland Revenue Board before the deadline.

The online e-Filing system has been introduced to tax payers in Malaysia since 2006, and had been found buggy and problemistic in the recent years. Nevertheless, improvement has been seen, especially on last year. Hopefully, the system will be better this year.

Here are some related links:

• Homepage of e-Filing system (English)
• Homepage of e-Filing system (Malay)
• User guides for e-Filing (English)
• User guides for e-Filing (Malay)
• Website of Inland Revenue Board (English)
• Website of Inland Revenue Board (Malay)

Related article:
Downloadable documents, references and forms for 2008 income tax assessment