- Company tax obligations in Malaysia run all year, not just in filing season: monthly payroll deductions are due by the 15th, CP500 instalments run every two months, and annual forms (E, BE, B, P, C) each have their own deadline.
- The main 2026 filing deadlines are Form E by 31 March, Form BE by 30 April, and Forms B and P by 30 June, each with an e-Filing grace period. [LHDN Return Form Filing Programme for 2026]
- From 1 January 2026, all stamp duty matters, including employment contract stamping, are handled through MyTax e-Stamp Duty; the older STAMPS system was discontinued on 31 December 2025.
- SST adjustments effective 1 January 2026 cut service tax on rental from 8% to 6% and raised the rental exemption threshold for eligible SME tenants.
- LHDN increasingly selects audit cases using data analytics and AI, which makes clean, consistent records (including validated e-invoices) a year-round requirement rather than a filing-season scramble.
A Malaysia business tax guide has one job: tell you which form is due, when it is due, and who must file it. This page is our permanent tax router for Malaysian businesses, employers, and self-employed taxpayers. It maps the full tax year, month by month, across LHDN (Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia, IRBM) income tax forms, CP forms, stamp duty, Sales and Service Tax (SST), and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) obligations. Each section gives a short summary and links to our full step-by-step guide on that topic, so you can go straight from “what applies to me” to “exactly how to do it”.
The Malaysia Tax Year at a Glance
The fastest way to manage business tax in Malaysia is to work from a calendar, not from memory. The table below shows the recurring obligations across a standard tax year. Every row links to our detailed guide for that form or task.
| When | What is due | Form / task | Who files |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every month, by the 15th | Monthly tax deduction (PCB/MTD), EPF, Social Security Organisation (SOCSO), and Employment Insurance System (EIS) contributions for the previous month | Payroll statutory payments | All employers |
| Every two months | Advance tax instalment, payable within 30 days of the date on the notice | CP500 | Self-employed and sole proprietors with business income |
| 28 February | Statement of remuneration issued to every employee | Form EA | All employers |
| 31 March | Employer annual return (e-Filing grace period to 30 April) | Form E | All employers |
| 31 March | Statement of incentive payments made to agents, dealers, and distributors in the prior year | CP58 | Businesses paying agent or distributor incentives above RM5,000 |
| 30 April | Individual return, salary income only (e-Filing grace to 15 May) | Form BE | Employees |
| 30 June | Individual return with business income (e-Filing grace to 15 July) | Form B | Freelancers, sole proprietors, commission earners |
| 30 June | Partnership return (e-Filing grace to 15 July) | Form P | Partnerships |
| 30 June and 31 October | Windows to amend CP500 instalment amounts via CP502 | CP502 | Self-employed taxpayers |
| Within 7 months of financial year end | Company return (8 months via e-Filing) | Form C | Companies, including Sdn Bhd |
| When hiring | New employee notification within 30 days of joining, plus PCB data from job changers | CP22 and TP3 | Employers |
| When an employee resigns or leaves Malaysia | Cessation notifications; CP21 not less than 30 days before departure | CP21, CP22A, CP22B | Employers |
| When signing contracts | Stamp duty via MyTax e-Stamp Duty (mandatory from 1 January 2026) | e-Stamping | Businesses and employers |
Deadlines tied to a notice date or a financial year end differ per business, so always check the dates printed on your own LHDN correspondence and the current filing programme at hasil.gov.my.
Annual Filing Forms: BE, B, E, P, and C
The annual income tax return you file depends on your taxpayer category. Employees with salary income only use Form BE. Individuals with business, freelance, or commission income use Form B. Employers file Form E, partnerships file Form P, and companies file Form C based on their financial year end.
Our 2026 Malaysia tax filing deadline guide is the reference page for this whole family: it covers every form, actual deadline, and e-Filing grace period in one table, plus who files what. For employees doing it themselves, we also publish a step-by-step Form e-BE walkthrough on MyTax, from first login to submission.
Filing the right form matters as much as filing on time. Using Form BE when you have side income, or treating Form EA as if it replaces Form E, are two of the errors covered in our guide to the five most common SME tax filing mistakes in Malaysia. Before any filing, run through the accounting documents every Malaysian business should prepare before tax filing so your numbers are supportable if LHDN asks questions later.
Tax records start with proper invoices.
JomeInvoice keeps every sale LHDN-validated and audit-ready.
CP Forms Decoded: CP500, CP58, CP21, CP22, and the TP Series
CP forms are LHDN’s administrative forms for advance tax, third-party income reporting, and employee movement. The table below routes you to the right guide.
| Form | What it does | Our full guide |
|---|---|---|
| CP500 | Bimonthly advance tax instalment scheme for self-employed taxpayers; each instalment is payable within 30 days of the notice date | What is CP500 and how payment works |
| CP502 | Amends your CP500 instalment amount if your income estimate changes (windows: 30 June and 31 October) | How to amend CP500 and avoid penalties |
| PCB vs CP500 | PCB is the employer-deducted monthly tax on salary; CP500 is the self-employed equivalent you pay yourself | PCB vs CP500 differences for business owners |
| CP58 | Annual statement of incentives paid to agents, dealers, and distributors above RM5,000, issued by 31 March | CP58 filing guide, including self-billed income |
| EA vs CP58 | Form EA reports employee remuneration; CP58 reports non-employee agent income; some people receive both | EA Form vs CP58 key differences |
| CP21, CP22, CP22A, CP22B | Employer notifications when an employee joins, resigns, passes away, or leaves Malaysia for more than three months | CP21, CP22, CP22A, and CP22B employer guide |
| TP1, TP2, TP3 | Employee declarations that feed accurate monthly PCB: reliefs (TP1), benefits in kind (TP2), and prior employment income (TP3) | TP1 vs TP2 vs TP3 for new hires |
A pattern we see across businesses we onboard: CP form deadlines are missed not because they are hard, but because no single person owns the calendar. Assign each row above to a named owner in your finance or HR team.
Employer Obligations: Payroll, EPF, and Retirement Schemes
Employers carry the heaviest recurring load in the Malaysian tax system. Every month, PCB, EPF, SOCSO, and EIS must be remitted by the 15th. Every year, Form EA goes to employees by 28 February and Form E goes to LHDN by 31 March. Employee movement triggers CP22, CP22A, CP22B, or CP21 notifications. Our 2026 employer tax guide for Malaysia consolidates all of these obligations in one place, form by form.
On the retirement side, two updates matter for planning. First, EPF rules are shifting: our breakdown of the three major EPF updates for 2026 covers the higher withdrawal limit for balances above RM1.1 million, i-Top Up, and the new retirement framework. Second, self-employed business owners without employer EPF contributions can use i-Saraan: the government’s i-Saraan incentive matches 20% of voluntary KWSP (Employees Provident Fund) contributions, capped at RM500 a year and RM5,000 over a lifetime. Our i-Saraan guide for self-employed Malaysians shows how much to contribute to capture the full incentive.
Stamp Duty Moves to MyTax e-Stamp Duty
From 1 January 2026, all stamp duty in Malaysia is processed through the e-Stamp Duty module in the MyTax portal; the previous STAMPS system was discontinued after 31 December 2025. For most businesses, the highest-volume use case is employment contracts: every new hire’s contract needs stamping, and HR teams now do this online under a company agent role rather than at a stamp office.
Our 2026 MyTax e-Stamp Duty guide for employment contract stamping walks through the account setup, the submission flow, and the practical questions HR teams ask, including whether a separate employer account is needed (it is not; the company agent role is sufficient).
Personal Tax Relief for YA 2026
Personal tax relief reduces chargeable income for individual taxpayers, including sole proprietors and partners who file Form B or P. Relief categories span lifestyle, education, medical, insurance, and property, each with its own cap, and the caps change from year to year. Claiming them correctly requires keeping receipts and premium statements through the year, not hunting for them in April.
Rather than repeat every category here, our personal tax relief guide for YA 2026 lists each relief, its cap, and the documentation LHDN expects, with worked examples of how relief changes the final tax amount.
SST Changes: New Rates and the MyPMK Rental Exemption
SST compliance in Malaysia changed on 1 January 2026. Service tax on rental and leasing dropped from 8% to 6%, and the exemption threshold moved to RM1.5 million, shifting compliance risk onto whoever issues the invoice at the wrong rate. Our summary of the SST adjustments for 2026 explains the new rates, who carries the risk in landlord and tenant scenarios, and how the changes interact with e-invoicing documentation.
Eligible SME tenants can go further and remove service tax on rental entirely. The step-by-step MyPMK rental SST exemption guide covers the certification process and the paperwork both tenant and landlord need to keep. Official SST registration and returns run through the MySST portal operated by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD).
Special Situations: Influencers, Imports, and Financing
Not every tax question fits the standard employer or company mould. Three situations come up often enough to have their own guides:
- Content creators and KOLs. Platform payouts, sponsorships, affiliate commissions, and gifted products can all be taxable. Our 2026 tax guide for influencers, bloggers, and KOLs in Malaysia breaks down six income types and which forms apply.
- Importers. Businesses bringing goods in from China and other foreign suppliers face import duty and SST at the border, some of which is claimable. See our tax claim guide for goods imported from China to Malaysia.
- Businesses seeking financing. Tax compliance history directly affects loan eligibility. Our comparison of Chinese MSME loan programmes in Malaysia reviews Bank Rakyat BR PROSPER-i, SME Bank SUCCESS, and CapBay BERKAT side by side.
LHDN Enforcement: AI Audits and Policy Updates
LHDN no longer picks audit cases by random sampling alone. Data analytics and AI now flag mismatches between declared income, e-invoice records, bank data, and third-party statements such as CP58. Our explainer on how LHDN uses AI and data analytics to select tax audit cases covers what the system looks for and which record-keeping habits reduce your audit surface.
Policy is also moving quickly. For the current year’s headline changes, from SST scope to SME support measures, see our roundup of the six major Malaysia tax announcements of 2026. We update that piece as new measures are gazetted, so it is the right bookmark for “what changed this year” questions.
Where e-Invoicing Fits in Your Tax Compliance
Malaysia’s e-invoice mandate is tax infrastructure, not a separate project. Every e-invoice validated through MyInvois (LHDN’s e-invoice validation portal) becomes part of the income record LHDN can match against your annual return, which is exactly the data trail its analytics-driven audits examine. Businesses in Phase 4 (annual revenue RM1 million to RM5 million) have a grace period until 31 December 2027 before penalty enforcement begins on 1 January 2028, but any single transaction exceeding RM10,000 already requires an individual e-invoice. [e-Invoice Specific Guideline v4.8 (7 Jul 2026)] For the full picture, start with our complete LHDN e-invoice guide.
There is also money on the table: MSMEs can claim an ESG-linked tax deduction of up to RM50,000 per year for e-invoice implementation costs, covered in our ESG tax deduction guide for e-invoice expenses.
JomeInvoice is Malaysian-built, gov-certified middleware (ISO 9001, ISO 20000-1, ISO 27001, MySTI) that connects your existing POS, accounting, ERP, or eCommerce system to MyInvois and keeps every sale validated in real time. Clean, LHDN-validated invoice data all year makes every obligation in this guide easier: your Form B or Form C numbers reconcile, your CP58 payments are traceable, and an AI-selected audit finds records that already match. If you want your invoicing layer sorted before the next filing season, talk to our team or start free at sme.jomeinvoice.my.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the main business tax deadlines in Malaysia for 2026?
A: Form E by 31 March, Form BE by 30 April, Forms B and P by 30 June, and Form C within 7 months of your financial year end. Monthly payroll deductions are due by the 15th. See our tax filing deadlines guide for the full table.
Q: What is CP500 in Malaysia?
A: CP500 is LHDN’s advance tax instalment scheme for self-employed taxpayers and sole proprietors. LHDN issues a notice with six bimonthly instalments, each payable within 30 days of the notice date. Amounts can be amended through Form CP502 within the two annual windows.
Q: Do employers need to file both Form EA and Form E?
A: Yes. Form EA is the remuneration statement given to each employee by 28 February. Form E is the employer’s annual return filed with LHDN by 31 March. Completing one does not satisfy the other; they are separate obligations.
Q: Is stamp duty for employment contracts done online now?
A: Yes. From 1 January 2026, all stamp duty matters run through the e-Stamp Duty module in the MyTax portal. The previous STAMPS system was discontinued after 31 December 2025. HR teams can stamp employment contracts using a company agent role in MyTax.
Q: Do influencers and content creators pay tax in Malaysia?
A: Yes. Platform payouts, sponsorships, affiliate commissions, sales of goods or services, and certain gifted products are taxable income. Most creators file Form B as individuals with business income. Our influencer tax guide covers the six income types LHDN looks at.
Q: Does e-invoicing affect my tax filing?
A: Yes. Validated e-invoices form the income record LHDN can match against your return, and its AI-driven audit selection compares these data sources. Phase 4 businesses (RM1M to RM5M revenue) have a grace period until 31 December 2027, but transactions exceeding RM10,000 already require individual e-invoices.
Get your invoicing compliance sorted first.
Talk to our Malaysian team about connecting your system to MyInvois.
Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. LHDN guidelines are subject to updates. Always refer to the latest official LHDN e-Invoice Guidelines at myinvois.hasil.gov.my and consult a qualified tax professional for advice specific to your business.
Last updated: 20 August 2026 | Written by Yinn Sheng Ng, Head of Marketing