Should my children be shareholders in the family company?
Shares can be gifted or transferred to family members, and stamp duty applies on the transfer value regardless of whether money changes hands. Minors as shareholders create practical difficulties with contracts and bank mandates. Succession is usually better handled through a structured plan than by scattering shares early.
Sources: Stamp Act 1949Companies Act 2016
Also asked as: family sdn bhd structure; succession planning shares malaysia; kids as shareholders; transfer shares to children.
Worth having the estate-planning conversation before the transfer, not after — undoing a share allocation costs duty a second time.
Key facts
- Gifts/transfers still attract stamp duty on value
- Minor shareholders: contract/banking complications
- Plan succession structurally
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