Director's Current Account Health Check: The s140B Deemed-Interest Math
When a company advances money to a director, it may fall under ITA Section 140B's "deemed interest" provision — the company owes extra tax on that advance. This tool gives a simplified annual estimate and lays out three clearance paths side by side, without a conclusion — for your specific situation, please verify with JMarc and your tax agent/auditor.
Step 1: Direction of the Advance
Your Current Account Position
MSME Preferential Rate Eligibility (all 5 must hold for the 15%/17% tiers)
All 5 hold → SME tiered rate applies (first RM150,000 at 15%, next RM450,000 at 17%, remainder at 24%)
Important: the statutory Section 140B deemed interest is computed monthly, on each month-end balance at that month's BNM Average Lending Rate, summed over 12 months. The figures below are a simplified ANNUAL estimate and will differ from the statutory result.
If this deemed interest happens to push company profit across an SME tax-bracket threshold (RM150,000 / RM600,000), the actual extra tax could be higher than this estimate — this tool calculates using your current marginal rate as a simplification and does not model bracket-jump effects.
This rate is a reference value — please verify against BNM/LHDN's officially published Average Lending Rate for the current month.
This figure assumes the outstanding balance and rate stay unchanged — illustrative only; actual cumulative cost will differ if the balance rises or falls.
Three Clearance Paths
Path 1 · Offset via Dividend
This calculation assumes the director has no other dividend income to combine with this year's; if there is other dividend income, the RM100,000 threshold must be combined.
Path 2 · Director's Fee or Bonus
This path assumes payment as a "director's fee", generating no EPF/SOCSO obligation; if this director has a formal employment contract and is paid as salary, the cost structure differs. The director's extra tax and the company's tax reduction land on two different taxpayers and are not combined into one net figure.
Path 3 · Installment Repayment
During installment repayment, the principal repayment itself creates no personal or corporate tax event; "do nothing" is equivalent to this same path with K approaching infinity.
Calculation Assumptions
- This tool uses a simplified annual formula (balance × ALR × rate) as an estimate; the statutory method computes deemed interest monthly, on each month-end balance at that month's published BNM Average Lending Rate, summed over 12 months — the two will differ.
- ALR is a single reference value, not modeled month by month — please verify the actual current figure against BNM/LHDN's officially published monthly ALR schedule.
- Path 2 assumes payment as a "director's fee", generating no EPF/SOCSO obligation; if this director has a formal employment contract and is paid as salary, the cost structure will differ.
- Path 1 assumes the director has no other dividend income to combine with this year's; if there is other dividend income, the RM100,000 threshold must be combined.
- The "external funding defense" is not modeled (Section 140B does not apply to traceable externally-sourced borrowing re-lent to a director), nor is the Section 33(2) interest-deduction restriction this might trigger instead — if external financing re-lending is involved, please consult a tax agent separately.
- This tool does not model the cascading effect of the deemed interest pushing company profit across a tax bracket.
- The "actual interest vs deemed interest, whichever is higher" rule: if the director's account carries a stated interest rate, it must be compared against the deemed interest and the higher one used — this tool defaults to assuming no stated interest; adjust separately if one applies.
- "Director" status for this test borrows ITA Section 75A(2)'s standard (≥20% direct/indirect shareholding, or a management-participation role) — if you're unsure whether you meet this definition, whether Section 140B even applies to you may itself be in question; please confirm separately.
How to clear this current account touches corporate tax, personal tax, and audit compliance all at once — please book a session with JMarc for case-specific planning, and also verify the final treatment with your tax agent/auditor — this tool cannot replace professional advice.
This tool is an educational tax-comparison illustration — it is not tax, legal, or audit advice, and does not recommend any specific treatment. The three clearance paths are shown in a fixed order with identical size and colour; none represents an "optimal" choice. ALR, MSME eligibility, and EPF/SOCSO assumptions are all simplified estimates — for your specific situation, follow official BNM and LHDN sources and a licensed tax adviser's/auditor's case-by-case judgment. If you're not logged in, your inputs stay only in your own browser; if logged in, your inputs and results are saved encrypted to your financial picture, to auto-fill and update this tool later.