There is RM 40 billion worth of assets left by Malaysians and yet to be claimed by their heirs because most of them die without writing a Will. Make sure your assets DO NOT add to this unclaimed money!
This was reported on the New Straits Times paper on January 22, 2007. By the way, some of this money could belong to you. That is the sad state of affairs in our country. Because of taboo and the lack of desire to plan for one’s death, which by the way, will happen, and assets are frozen. Frozen assets are of no use to your family or to society as a whole.
When you die without writing a will, it creates problems of inheritance, and leaves your family stranded with outstanding loans and other obligations, without the means to pay for your obligations. Why? It takes a long time for the money and other assets to pass on to them.
Funny thing is, after there is a major disaster, like accident, tsunami or Sept 11, the number of people who wrote Will increased. I’ve also heard people who are going for surgery decide to write their Will. Somehow the prospect of death makes people no longer put of creating this important document. They decide that writing a Will is important after all.
This is something we should be un-Malaysian. Our Western counterparts are better educated and much better planned. They realize that their time can be up anytime and makes sure something as simple as writing a will is done.
Source:NST 22 Jan 2007
RM 40 Billion Wang Tak Dituntut – Mati Tanpa Tulis Wasiat
There is RM 40 billion worth of assets left by Malaysians and yet to be claimed by their heirs because most of them die without writing a Will. Make sure your assets DO NOT add to this unclaimed money!
This was reported on the New Straits Times paper on January 22, 2007. By the way, some of this money could belong to you. That is the sad state of affairs in our country. Because of taboo and the lack of desire to plan for one’s death, which by the way, will happen, and assets are frozen. Frozen assets are of no use to your family or to society as a whole.
When you die without writing a will, it creates problems of inheritance, and leaves your family stranded with outstanding loans and other obligations, without the means to pay for your obligations. Why? It takes a long time for the money and other assets to pass on to them.
Funny thing is, after there is a major disaster, like accident, tsunami or Sept 11, the number of people who wrote Will increased. I’ve also heard people who are going for surgery decide to write their Will. Somehow the prospect of death makes people no longer put of creating this important document. They decide that writing a Will is important after all.
This is something we should be un-Malaysian. Our Western counterparts are better educated and much better planned. They realize that their time can be up anytime and makes sure something as simple as writing a will is done.
Source:NST 22 Jan 2007
In 2019, the sum of money NOT being claimed by Malaysians was reportedly over RM10 billion, which is quite a sizeable amount! According to the news article, the Accountant-General’s Department (AGD) wanted to help Malaysians check the status of their unclaimed monies, leading to the development of an online system for this purpose.
Previously, to check whether you have any unclaimed monies (eg. from tax relief), you’ll need to queue up without knowing if you even have any unclaimed money! However, earlier in 2020, the AGD’s eGUMIS portal went live and it was a significant improvement for people wanting to check whether they had any unclaimed monies.
Despite this breakthrough, if you wanted to claim the money, you were still required to pay a visit to the AGD’s office to submit a physical form (Borang Permohonan Bayaran Balik WTD “UMA-7”).
I remembered I had a small sum of money unclaimed, but due to the trouble and since the amount was not significant, I procrastinated and left the money unclaimed, on purpose. Towards the end of 2020, I read an article on The Star that stated the government could consider using unclaimed monies as a “source of revenue” – this triggered me to check my unclaimed money again.
I was asked to create an account again as my account had expired after six months of inactivity. As I registered for another account, I realised that the user interface had changed and the more I explored, the more I realised that eGUMIS now allowed us to submit forms online.
My step-by step experience of claiming my unclaimed monies is outlined below, and be sure to read till the end as I will also explain how to overcome a certain bug (as of 28 November 2020) in the system:
First, head over to this link to register for a new account. Then click on ‘Registration’ in the top right corner as per the screenshot below to get started.
Note: You may first need to change the default language to English, or you may proceed in Bahasa Melayu.