MyCoID: Register A Company Yourself In 4 Steps

Incorporate a Sdn Bhd on your own

While business owners regularly engage professional help with company incorporation, we understand that some at the start of their entrepreneurial journey may need to be as frugal as possible.

We firmly believe this should never be a barrier to entrepreneurship, and in this post, we’ll cover the 4 steps to incorporating a Sdn Bhd by yourself.

Here’s how we’ll break it down:

• Necessary details for incorporation
• A walkthrough of the incorporation process
• Challenges of incorporating solo to prepare for

Let’s begin.

Details needed to incorporate

To submit an application to incorporate a Sdn Bhd, you’ll need to fill in a document called the SSM Superform with key details of your proposed company.

The Superform will request the following details:

• Proposed company name
• Nature and description of business
• Company type (shares vs guarantee)
• Registered address
• Director details
• Shareholder details, and
• Company Secretary details

If you’re unsure about what these items include and how to obtain them, maybe start with appointing a Company Secretary, a mandatory appointment for all companies in Malaysia.

Your Company Secretary will then advise you on how to get the required information.

For now, let’s move to the incorporation process itself.

4 Steps to incorporating a Sdn Bhd

The incorporation will be done via MyCoID, SSM’s web portal that was designed specifically to facilitate online incorporation. 

Step 1: Sign up for a personal account

Visit the MyCoID sign up page and fill in the registration form with your personal details

If your submission is successful, you’ll get a prompt to check your email.

The verification email should be sitting in your inbox and will contain your unique Reference Number to track your account application status.

There will then be a follow-up email asking you to physically visit an SSM branch for verification.:

Hey, nobody said the process was fully online, right?

Step 2: Visit your nearest SSM branch

As the message says, you have 14 days from the date of the email to physically visit an SSM office for them to verify your identity and activate your user account. 

Here’s an official directory of all SSM branch locations, and remember to bring along:

• Your MyCard / MyPR / Passport, and
• a copy of the notification email

Approval is usually done within one to two working days, after which you can log in to MyCoID with your user credentials.

Step 3: Complete incorporation application on MyCoID

Log into your MyCoID account and you’ll be greeted by the homepage.

Select ‘Direct Incorporation’ and you’ll be taken to a name search page to check if your proposed company name if available or already in use.

Assuming it’s available, you can proceed with filling in the Superform with the details we covered in the section above.

It would be too long for us to reasonably cover here, but you can check out the SSM MyCoID User Manual for an item-by-tem breakdown of how to complete the form.

Step 4: Make payment

You’ll be redirected to a pretty self-explanatory payment gateway. The fee for incorporating a company limited by shares is RM1,010 and can be made by debit or credit card.

If payment is successful, you’ll receive a notification that looks like this:

Foe now, your job is done, and it’s time to let SSM officers review your application.

Note: We hesitate to provide a concrete time frame as it can vary substantially based on how many applications are being processed. Don’t be surprised if it takes up to a week for your application to be reviewed!

Upon approval, you’ll receive an email from SSM titled ‘Notice of Registration’ which will contain proof of your incorporation in the form of a document called the Notice of Registration or Section 15.

And there you go, a successfully incorporated Sdn Bhd.

It seems simple enough, and it very well could be, but allow us to leave you with a word of warning about several challenges you could face without an experienced hand to guide you.

4 challenges when incorporating alone

Incorporating on behalf of others is MISHU’s bread and butter,

In our experiene, four common issues lead to entrepreneurs asking MISHU for help.

1. Describing business nature

A company’s business nature is explained in the Superform through a combination of up to three MSIC Business Codes and a long-form description of up to 200 words.

This is no problem for simpler businesses, but businesses with complex or extensive activities can struggle to accurately capture how they generate revenue.

2. Addressing SSM queries

Not every incorporation application is automatically approved, and SSM officers will occasionally send applicants an official query that they must address before re-submitting the application.

Queries can be on various topics, and more technical amendments can be confusing to first time applicants.

3. Realising incorporation is just the start

After incorporation, a business must still apply for licenses, open a bank account, register with relevant statutory bodies, and carry out a million other things before legally operating.

Doing all this yourself as an inexperienced entrepreneur just means even more time spent on administrative burdens instead of growing the business.

4. Opportunity cost of time lost

It’s no surprise some hire us the moment they find out they must otherwise physically visit SSM!

It’s a business decision. Incorporating yourself may be financially cheaper, but costs singnificantly more time queuing up, searching for available names, and finding the right business codes out of over 1000 options.

If you believe your time would be better spent elsewhere, then we highly encourage you to get in touch to see how we can help. 

Let MISHU help incorporate your company

MISHU’s dedicated team is here to help you every step of the way, giving you the freedom to fully focus on growing your business from day one.