Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM) has announced the following measures and initiatives to reduce the burden of the business community and corporate sector during the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to COVID-19 pandemic: -
(1) For the 1st measure, SSM will automatically grant all companies and limited liability partnerships a moratorium of 30 days from the date of the MCO ends to lodge all affected statutory documents under the Companies Act 2016 (CA 2016) and Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2012 with the Registrar of SSM without any late lodgment fee.
(2) For the 2nd measure, SSM will grant an extension of time of three (3) months for the lodgment of financial statements for companies with financial year ending from 30 September 2019 to 31 December 2019. The affected companies are required to apply to SSM beginning 9 April 2020 through email application to eot@ssm.com.my in the prescribed format where the application fee of RM 100 will be waived.
(3) The 3rd initiative by SSM is to extend the compliance period with section 241 of the CA 2016 for company secretaries to fulfil their CPE requirements until 31 December 2020 subject to certain terms and conditions.
(4) SSM’s 4th initiative is to increase the threshold of indebtedness of a company under section 466 of the CA 2016 (the definition of a company’s “inability to pay”) from RM10,000 to RM50,000 [vide Federal Government Gazette Jil. 64 (No. 17) dated 23rd April 2020 (No. 8032) with effect from 23 April 2020 until 31 December 2020] until December 2020 to reduce winding-up action against companies. Additionally, for determination on whether a company shall be deemed to be unable to pay its debt within the definition of s. 466(1)(a) of the CA 2016, a company is now given a period of six (6) months, compared to the twenty-one (21) days stated in s. 466(1)(a) itself, to respond/answer to a notice of demand issued by a creditor [pursuant to the power exercised by the Minister concerned under s. 615 of the CA 2016 vide Companies (Exemption) (No.2) Order 2020; Federal Government Gazette P.U. (A) 123 of 23 April 2020].
(5) SSM’s 5th initiative is to extend the deadline of the “2020 Compliance Campaign of the Companies Act 2016” to 30 June 2020 where SSM will provide a maximum compound reduction rate of 90% from the original value of compound for common offences under the Companies Act 1965 and the CA 2016 for situations where an active company has updated its Annual Returns and Financial Statements; a dormant or inactive company has made an application for revocation of name under section 550 of the CA 2016 or the company secretary has given written feedback for the notice under section 7(11)(b) of the Companies Act 1965.
(6) The 6th initiative by SSM is to introduce an exemption from obtaining approval for solicitation of donation from the public to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, by Companies Limited by Guarantee (CLBG). To expedite this noble cause, SSM will grant exemption to CLBGs which have been approved by the Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (IRB) pursuant to subsection 44(6) of the Income Tax Act 1967 (ITA 1967) from applying for the Minister or Registrar’s approval to conduct activities for solicitation of donation from the public for the purpose of COVID-19 pandemic. This exemption is applicable until 31 December 2020. CLBGs which have not been approved by the IRB can also proceed to conduct the solicitation of donation activities from the public but must make an official application within 30 days after the MCO ends. CLBGs that collect donations for the COVID-19 pandemic must keep a record of donations for SSM’s monitoring purposes.
(7) SSM’s 7th initiative is to grant an extension of time for the holding of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) until three (3) months after the MCO ends. However, in order to ensure that there is no abuse of the extension of time, companies will be required to apply for the extension of time to hold AGM to SSM. The companies involved will be exempted from paying the application fee of RM100.
All these initiatives were introduced by SSM, the leading authority in our country for the improvement of corporate governance with its function to ensure compliance with corporate legislation, to ease the economic pressures faced by the corporate sectors who have been hit hard by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the world.
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