Promotion of Investments Act 1986, pioneer status and investment tax allowance
In forcePromotion of Investments Act 1986 (Act 327)
Effective 1986-01-01 · Applies to both
The Promotion of Investments Act 1986 sets Malaysia's general framework for granting a company pioneer status, an exemption from income tax of the statutory income attributable to a promoted activity or promoted product for a tax relief period beginning on the company's production day and continuing for five years (extendable), or an investment tax allowance, on application to the Minister. The Act is deemed by its own section 1(3) to have come into force on 1 January 1986.
The Minister determines by statutory order, published in the Gazette, which activities or products are 'promoted', and may separately grant pioneer status to a 'high technology company', defined as a company engaged in a promoted activity or producing a promoted product in areas of new and emerging technologies.
Neither information technology, cloud computing, nor data-centre infrastructure is named in the Act's own text as a promoted activity or product; whether a given data-centre project qualifies turns on a statutory order made under section 4, not described here. No provision in the Act addresses electricity grid interconnection, water use, or air-emissions permitting for a qualifying project.
Source: Full text of law