FOR individual taxpayers in Malaysia, April marks the month when the tax filing needs to be carried out by salaried individuals although the deadline is typically extended for e-filing as follows:
> Salaried individuals (no business): May 15, 2026.
> Individuals with business income: July 15, 2026.
It is advisable to file early as it helps avoid system congestion, errors, and penalties. Taxpayers should have the necessary documents before filing their tax returns.
These may include EA Forms (from employer), income records (freelance, rental, etc), receipts for tax relief claims (medical, education, lifestyle, etc).
There are various tax reliefs available to resident taxpayers such as the individual relief (RM9,000); Employees Provident Fund plus life insurance (up to RM7,000 combined); education and medical insurance; lifestyle and sports expenses; dependent/child reliefs, to name a few.
Making these claims where eligible can help reduce the tax liabilities.
It is also important to ensure that taxpayers do not make wrongful claims.
A case in point is the lifestyle relief which is capped at RM2,500.
The common items that qualify include books and journals; computers/laptops/tablets; Internet subscriptions; and digital newspaper subscriptions.
Frequently misclaimed items include making claims for a smartwatch, which is not accepted as a computer device and may be considered a wearable accessory.
Gaming consoles are generally not accepted as lifestyle learning devices; and only news or educational digital subscriptions may qualify; entertainment streaming often does not.
Taxpayers also tend to make claims without understanding or paying regard to the qualifying conditions to claim such reliefs.
For example, in the case of claiming a relief for medical expenses for parents (up to RM8,000), conditions often overlooked include the fact that the parents must be Malaysian residents and that the medical expenses must be supported with receipts from registered medical practitioners.
In order to claim childcare relief (up to RM3,000), the conditions include that the child must be six years old or below; the childcare centre must be registered with the authorities and that the relief is claimable by one parent only.
All income earned by individuals is generally taxable unless specifically exempted (for example foreign sourced income, subject to certain conditions).
If an employed taxpayer has side income (business/freelance) such as from TikTok monetisation, freelancing or affiliate marketing, the individual needs to file a Form B and not BE (which is meant for persons that earn only employment income).
Many gig workers file Form BE and do not declare the side income, which can lead to under-reporting penalties.
The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) increasingly tracks digital income through platform data.
With effect from the year of assessment 2025 (YA25), the interest paid to finance the purchase of a residential property is given a tax relief of RM7,000, where the purchase price of the property does not exceed RM500,000, and a lower relief of RM5,000 is given if the purchase price of the property is more than RM500,000 but nor more than RM750,000.
This is on the condition that the residential property is the first residential property purchased by the individual. Taxpayers need to be mindful that only interest, not the full installment, is claimable.
All submissions must be done online via MyTax – manual filing is no longer accepted. First-time users would need to register and activate their digital certificate.
The move by the IRB to use MyKad/identification number as the Tax Identification Number (Tin) simplifies identification as there is no need to remember a separate tax number.
The registration on MyTax automatically links to the MyKad/passport.
For existing taxpayers, the old Tins are mapped to the MyKad automatically.
This will also facilitate logging in and identification across government systems becoming more seamless.
Taxpayers are legally required to keep documents for at least seven years.
Digital copies accepted include:
> Scanned PDF receipts.
> Clear photos of receipts.
> E-receipts from email.
> Bank statements showing payment.
> Invoices from official websites.
It is recommended that these should be stored in cloud storage with folders by year. Thermal receipts should be scanned immediately.
The IRB would typically conduct audits on taxpayers and some of the common triggers or “low hanging fruit” for desk audits include issues such as sudden jump in relief claims (for example, lifestyle relief suddenly jumping from RM300 to RM2,500); employer PCB (monthly tax deductions) records do not match the declared amount; unrealistic medical claims whereby large medical claims are made with no supporting documentation or duplicate claims (both spouses claiming the same relief).
For YA25, the key message to readers would be to prepare early, file accurately, claim all eligible reliefs, and submit the income tax return forms, as well as to make the payment of the taxes before the deadline.
By Harvindar Singh,wh0 is a council member of the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia and a tax partner of SCS Global Consulting (M) Sdn Bhd. The views expressed here are the writer’s ow
