INTRODUCTION Legal cost is a mythical concept which has posed as one of the fear factors in legal proceedings as it has often been stigmatised to come with a premium price tag. However, the incurring of legal costs to claim / defend trade disputes can help to save taxes under the Income Tax Act 1967 (“ITA”). There are primarily two ways which are respectively direct and indirect in nature: Direct – Legal costs in connection with trade dispute as deductible expenses Under Public Ruling No. 6/2006 on Tax Treatment of Legal and Professional Expenses issued under ITA, it has been prescribed that legal expenses incurred in certain scenarios are deductible expenses such as, inter alia: recovering trade debts from customers (normally contractual in nature); a finance company renewing existing loans; defending a person’s title to the ownership of an asset that is used in the business; litigation costs incurred on renewal of a lease by a landlord; defending a claim in relation / arising from your trade / business / profession, unless the breach is deliberate and / or dishonest; Legal cost incurred in disputes over trading contracts; Legal costs incurred by developer for transfer / sub division / conversion […] read more 
HOW LEGAL COSTS CAN SAVE TAXES
INTRODUCTION Legal cost is a mythical concept which has posed as one of the fear factors in legal proceedings as it has often been stigmatised to come with a premium price tag. However, the incurring of legal costs to claim / defend trade disputes can help to save taxes under the Income Tax Act 1967 (“ITA”). There are primarily two ways which are respectively direct and indirect in nature: Direct – Legal costs in connection with trade dispute as deductible expenses Under Public Ruling No. 6/2006 on Tax Treatment of Legal and Professional Expenses issued under ITA, it has been prescribed that legal expenses incurred in certain scenarios are deductible expenses such as, inter alia: recovering trade debts from customers (normally contractual in nature); a finance company renewing existing loans; defending a person’s title to the ownership of an asset that is used in the business; litigation costs incurred on renewal of a lease by a landlord; defending a claim in relation / arising from your trade / business / profession, unless the breach is deliberate and / or dishonest; Legal cost incurred in disputes over trading contracts; Legal costs incurred by developer for transfer / sub division / conversion […] read more Why You Need To Retain Lawyers in your Business?
The reasons for hiring a lawyer to advise you the legal aspects of your business are apparent. A skilful lawyer will provide your company with all vital assistance your business may need from copyright and trademark advice to formal incorporation of your business. Your lawyer can also advise you of possible lawsuits and liabilities your company is facing in your business. Don’t wait until being sued and then get a lawyer. Matters will be very complicated by then and it can be very costly after being sued. You need to remember that it is easy to get into court, but, very difficult to get out of court once you are entangled with legal problems affecting your business. You may need to know on how to hire or retain a lawyer on monthly or annual basis to keep your company out of trouble. It is not expensive to retain a lawyer that way, but, it will be a very expensive affair once you are in court. Whether your company is big or small, it doesn’t matter, but, the larger you company is, the more problems your company will face. You may need lawyers to advise you on your company’s lawsuits, to […] read more
Why You Need To Retain Lawyers in your Business
The reasons for hiring a lawyer to advise you the legal aspects of your business are apparent. A skilful lawyer will provide your company with all vital assistance your business may need from copyright and trademark advice to formal incorporation of your business. Your lawyer can also advise you of possible lawsuits and liabilities your company is facing in your business. Don’t wait until being sued and then get a lawyer. Matters will be very complicated by then and it can be very costly after being sued. You need to remember that it is easy to get into court, but, very difficult to get out of court once you are entangled with legal problems affecting your business. You may need to know on how to hire or retain a lawyer on monthly or annual basis to keep your company out of trouble. It is not expensive to retain a lawyer that way, but, it will be a very expensive affair once you are in court. Whether your company is big or small, it doesn’t matter, but, the larger you company is, the more problems your company will face. You may need lawyers to advise you on your company’s lawsuits, to […] read more
How much legal fees would I be charged?
How Lawyers Charge Fee? Most often than not when a client walks into a lawyer’s office he would first of all ask the lawyer how much he should pay the lawyer for a certain work to be done even without first giving an opportunity for the lawyer to assess the legal problem the client was facing. A lawyer may not be able to off-hand quote a fee without a proper understanding of the legal problem that the client is facing. Therefore, a lawyer will not be able to quote a proper fee when client ask by phone. The best thing is to see the lawyer personally and shopping around by phone for lawyers will not do justice to the client and lawyer. Before quoting a fee for a particular work asked by the client the lawyer has to consider a number of factors such as: (1) The nature of legal problem the client is facing, whether it is about debt matters, personal injury claims, land disputes, hire –purchase, criminal charges etc., (2) The value of the matter in dispute; (3) The length of time needed and effort taken to resolve the legal problem faced by the client; (4) Whether there […] read more
20 Tips to Increase the Success of Your Home Loan’s Application
Update: Corrected the formula for Net Income calculations. Credit to www.propertywtf.com Loan’s application declined to RM45.26bil from RM47bil! The Bank Negara had showed on their website that loan approvals’ percentage for residential properties in the country declined to 46.8% in the first half of this year from 50.1% during the same period in 2011. While the application for loans for residential properties purchases increased by 2.9% but the actual loans approved during the six-month period declined to RM45.26bil from RM47bil in the same period in 2011. This is evident when our clients have to resort to different banks when they buy their properties and this prolonged the property transactions period. Why declined and how it is assessed? One of the reasons for the increasing numbers of bank loan disapproval is because of the recent change of policy by Bank Negara to use Net Income instead of Gross Income of borrowers in approving loans. From our recent meeting with a local bank manager on this policy, he explained that if a person: Has a salary/total income of RM3,000.00 a month (after deductions of EPF and SOCSO) Has a car commitment of RM500.00 a month Other commitments of RM1,000.00 a month (house, […] read more How, and How Much, Do Lawyers Charge?
Most often than not when a client walked into a lawyer’s office he would first of all ask the lawyer how much he should pay the lawyer for a certain work to be done even without first giving an opportunity for the lawyer to assess the legal problem the client was facing. A lawyer may not be able to off-hand quote a fee without a proper understanding of the legal problem that the client is facing. Therefore, a lawyer will not be able to quote a proper fee when client ask by phone. The best thing is to see the lawyer personally. Before quoting a fee for a particular work asked by the client the lawyer has to consider a number of factors such as: The nature of legal problem the client is facing, whether it is about debt matters, personal injury claims, land disputes, hire –purchase, criminal charges etc., The length of time needed to resolve the legal problem faced by the client; Whether there is a need to file legal proceedings, defence and or counterclaim in court; The importance of the case to the client; The complexity or novelty of the legal matter under consideration. How much you […] read more 