Tax Rates For Year Of Assessment 2016 (Tax Filed In 2017)

Now that you understand how to derive your chargeable income to file for your 2016 income tax, we can calculate how much tax you will be paying for last year’s assessment.

What Is A Tax Exemption?

Fortunately, taxpayers in Malaysia are not taxed on our total income, as certain portions of our income are tax exempted. For income tax filed in Malaysia, we are entitled for certain tax exemptions that can reduce our overall chargeable income.

Tax exemptions either reduce or entirely eliminate your obligation to pay tax. Most taxpayers are entitled to an exemption on their tax return that reduces your tax bill in the same way a deduction does.

The following tax exemptions will not be included in the taxpayer’s EA Form:

The above tax exemptions are subject to approval, and conditions set by LHDN.

Read on to understand more about the above tax exemptions:

Tax Reliefs For Year Of Assessment 2016 (Tax Filed In 2017)

What is a income tax relief? Tax reliefs are set by LHDN, where a taxpayer is able to deduct a certain amount for money expended in that assessment year, from the total annual income. These are for certain activities or behaviours that the government encourages or even necessities or burdens to lighten our financial loads.

For income tax Malaysia, tax reliefs can help reduce your chargeable income, and thus your taxes. If planned properly, you can save a significant amount of taxes.

In our example, a taxpayer would have been taxed about 10% of his total chargeable income of RM84,300 if he had claimed no tax reliefs at all.

However, with the self & dependent tax relief of RM9,000, life insurance & EPF relief at RM6,000, his total chargeable income is now RM69,300, hence, he would only be taxed about 8% of his chargeable income.

What Is A Tax Deduction?

After deducting tax reliefs from your annual income, you can still reduce your chargeable income with tax deductions.

In Malaysia, a tax deduction is similar to a tax relief, where it reduces your chargeable income. Tax deductions are a result of Gifts and Donations.

Donations are only tax deductible if the donations are made to Government approved charitable organisation or directly to the Government, and you must keep the receipt of the donation.

For income tax 2017, if your chargeable income is RM55,000, and you’ve donated RM2,500 to an approved charitable organisation, you are allowed to deduct 7% of your aggregate income to reduce your chargeable income.

For income tax 2017, if your chargeable income is RM55,000, and you’ve donated RM2,500 to an approved charitable organisation, you are allowed to deduct 7% of your aggregate income to reduce your chargeable income.

Total chargeable income after tax deduction

= RM55,000 – (RM55,000 x 7%)

= RM55,000 – RM3,850

= RM51,150

What Is Chargeable Income?

First of all, you need to know what is considered income by Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN). Is it just the monthly salary you get from your employer, or does it also include other types of income?

With effect from year 2016, an individual who earns an annual employment income of RM25,501 (after EPF deduction) has to register a tax file. These are the types of income that are taxable:

These are the types of income that are taxable:

• Business or profession
• Employment
• Dividends
• Interests (except bank deposit interests)
• Discounts
• Rent collected
• Royalties
• Premiums
• Pensions
• Annuities
• Perquisites, which includes bill claims, company credit cards, loans from company, sponsored club memberships, sponsored child tuition fee, personal driver and any benefits offered by your employer that could be converted into cash.

Here’s an example of how to derive your total income:

Malaysia Personal Income Tax Guide For 2017

Preparing and filing your income tax in Malaysia can be a challenging and anxiety-inducing experience every year for most people, but it doesn’t have to be if you understand how income tax works in this country.

Do you know how your tax is calculated? Are you aware that Malaysia adopts a progressive income tax rate system, which means that you only pay the higher rate on the amount above the rate? Do you know what the differences between tax exemptions, tax reliefs, tax rebates and tax deductibles are? How can you get higher income tax return?

If you have no clue what the answers for these questions are, plus many other income tax-related questions, you will have no idea how to plan your taxes well. Without planning, you won’t be able to maximise on the tax reliefs available, and get the tax savings you are eligible for.

Well, it is never too late to find out. With this simple and easy-to-understand Malaysia income tax guide 2017, you will be filing your tax like a whiz before April ends.

Now, let’s get started and find out what’s chargeable income!

How To Pay Income Tax In Malaysia

If you have paid your income tax payment in excess via the monthly tax deductions, the excess amount will be reimbursed to you via the bank account details that you had provided. For those who do not provide bank accounts, you will be reimbursed via cheques or the new tax refund voucher system (BBBC), which will be implemented in stages.

However, if you have taxes due, you can pay through various methods, such as e-banking, collection agents, and the ATMs to name a few. You can also pay your income tax via credit card. If you are looking for a card that will reward you for your tax payment, check out all the credit cards available in Malaysia.

Here are the many ways you can pay for your personal income tax in Malaysia:

1) Pay income tax via FPX Services

The FPX (Financial Process Exchange) gateway allows you to pay your income tax online in Malaysia. First of all you need an Internet banking account with the FPX participating bank.

The participating banks are as follows:

• Affin Bank & Affin Islamic Bank
• Alliance Bank & Alliance Islamic Bank
• AmBank & AmBank Islamic Bank
• Bank Islam
• Bank Rakyat
• CIMB Bank & CIMB Islamic Bank
• Hong Leong Bank & Hong Leong Islamic Bank
• HSBC & HSBC Amanah (Not available for Retail)
• Maybank & Maybank Islamic Bank
• Public Bank & Public Islamic Bank
• RHB Bank & RHB Islamic Bank
• UOB Bank

To make the payment, please go to ByrHASiL at https://byrhasil.hasil.gov.my/

Malaysia Income Tax e-Filing Guide

So, how to file income tax? Taxpayers can start submitting their income tax return forms through the e-Filing system starting from March 1 of every year, unless otherwise announced by LHDN. This method of e-filing is becoming popular among taxpayers for its simplicity and user-friendliness.

Unlike the traditional income tax filing, where you have to print out the income tax form and fill it in manually, the e-Filing income tax form calculates your income tax for you automatically. So, questions like “how to calculate my income tax” will not be stopping you from getting your income tax returns.

Filing your tax through e-Filing also gives you more time to file your taxes, as opposed to the traditional method of filing, where the deadline is usually on April 30.

If this is your first time filing your tax through e-Filing, don’t worry, we’ve got your back with this handy guide on e-Filing.

Here is how the short e-Filing process goes: