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🇲🇾  Retiring in Malaysia from Canada

What Canadians need to know: the visa, how your pensions are taxed, what to do before you leave and every year after.

By the retireacross editorial team · Last reviewed

Visa for Canadians

You can visit Malaysia without a visa for 90 days (usually 90 days on arrival for tourism): enough for a trial stay before you apply. To live there you need a residence route:

  • Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H), Silver: a home or investment from 150,000 USD, from age 25. Official page
  • MM2H Special Economic / Financial Zone (age 50+): a home or investment from 32,000 USD, from age 50. Official page

Check your figures in the visa checker

Sources: MM2H (Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture): categories and requirements (checked 2026-10-22) · MM2H: Silver category (checked 2026-10-22) · MM2H: Special Economic / Financial Zone (checked 2026-10-22) · UK travel advice: Malaysia, entry requirements (checked 2026-10-22) · Government of Canada: Malaysia entry requirements (checked 2026-10-25)

How your pensions are taxed

Canada withholds 15% on OAS and 15% on CPP/QPP for residents of Malaysia (Service Canada's treaty rates); company pensions follow the treaty's pension article, public-service pensions its government-service article (often taxable only in Canada). Malaysia itself does not tax most foreign pensions.

  • OAS 15%, CPP/QPP 15% withheld in Canada.
  • Company pensions: the treaty's pension article where there is one, otherwise 25%. Public-service pensions (such as a teachers' or RREGOP pension): the treaty's government-service article, often taxable only in Canada.

Sources: Service Canada: lived or living outside Canada, taxes (rates by country) (checked 2026-10-26) · Finance Canada: tax treaties in force (checked 2026-10-26)

Canada: As a non-resident, Canada withholds 25% on OAS, CPP and other Canadian pensions (company or public-service plans such as a teachers' pension), and on Canadian interest and dividends, unless a tax treaty with your new country lowers it; without a treaty, form NR5 (or a section 217 return) is the way to reduce it. OAS abroad needs 20 years in Canada after 18. Official page

Malaysia's own rules: Foreign-source income received in Malaysia by resident individuals is exempt from 2022 to 31 December 2036, subject to conditions (income through a Malaysian partnership excepted). The MM2H programme states "no tax on foreign funds or income". There is no wealth tax and no inheritance tax.

Before you leave Canada

  1. Check your OAS and GIS abroad (Canada): OAS continues abroad only if you lived in Canada at least 20 years after 18 (or 20 years combined with a social security agreement country); the GIS stops after 6 months away. Count your years before you choose where to live. Official page
  2. Check the tax Canada will withhold on your pensions: As a non-resident, OAS, CPP/QPP and Canadian company or public-service pensions are taxed at 25% at source unless a treaty with your new country lowers it (Service Canada lists the reduced OAS and CPP rates by country). Without a treaty, file form NR5 by 31 October so a lower rate applies from January. Official page
  3. Your departure-year tax return (Canada): File a final return for the part of the year you were resident, with your departure date. You are treated as selling most investments outside registered plans at market value (the "departure tax"); list your property on form T1161 if it is worth more than $25,000. Tell your banks and pension payers you are a non-resident: Canadian pensions, interest and dividends then have non-resident tax withheld. Official page
  4. Your provincial health cover ends: Provincial plans such as Ontario's OHIP cover people who make the province their primary home: once you move abroad for good, you are no longer covered. Arrange cover in your new country from the day you arrive (private insurance, or the public scheme where residents must join), especially if you need regular follow-up. In Québec, RAMQ eligibility ends on your departure date, and you file a Québec return for the months you were resident; your QPP is paid by Retraite Québec. Official page
  5. Tell Service Canada before you leave: Contact Service Canada before leaving for more than 6 months, and give them your new address and bank details: it avoids overpayments you would have to repay. Official page (from age band 65-74)

Every year, from abroad

  • File your OAS Return of Income (before 30 April): If you get Old Age Security and live outside Canada, file the OAS Return of Income (OASRI) before 30 April each year: it decides whether you repay part of your OAS (the recovery tax, for net incomes over $93,454 in 2025). Residents of some treaty countries are exempt.
  • Renew your NR5 (if you filed one) (every 5 years, by 31 October): An approved NR5 lowers the tax withheld on your Canadian pensions for 5 years, unless your income changes. File the next one by 31 October of its last year, so the reduced rate continues the following January.

More for Canadians

Rules and figures change and we can make mistakes: confirm with the official source or a licensed advisor before acting.