Additional Tax Deductions Available for Individuals

The following is a list of tax deductions available for individuals to make a claim when filing his/her Income Tax Borang BE or B for 2008 onwards.

For employees, if you have any of these expenses, you can request your employers to reduce your PCB deductions by filing up the Borang TP1.

  1. Medical expenses for own parents certified by medical practitioner (limited to RM5,000 a year);
  2. Basic supporting equipment for disabled self, spouse, child or parents (limited to RM5,000 a year);
  3. Disabled person (self) (RM6,000 a year);
  4. Education fee (self) up to tertiary level for the purpose of acquiring law, accounting, Islamic financing, technical, vocational, industrial, scientific or technological skills or qualifications or for a Masters or Doctorate level, undertaken the purpose of acquiring any skill or qualification (limited to RM5,000 a year);
  5. Medical expenses on serious diseases for self, spouse or child (limited to RM5,000 a year);
  6. Complete medical examination for self, spouse or child Limited to RM500 a year (total deduction for para 4.5 and 4.6 is limited to RM5,000 a year);
  7. Purchase of books / journals / magazines / similar publications for self, spouse or child (limited to RM1,000 a year);
  8. Purchase of personal computer for individual. Deduction allowed once in every 3 years. (Limited to RM3,000);
  9. Net deposit in Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional (limited to RM3,000 a year);
  10. Purchase of sports equipment for any sports activity as defined under the Sports Development Act 1997 (limited to RM300 a year). This is explained here;
  11. Payment of alimony to former wife (Total deduction for wife and alimony payments shall not exceed RM3,000 a year);
  12. Disabled husband / wife (RM3,500 a year);
  13. Life insurance (and EPF limited to RM6,000 a year);
  14. Education and medical insurance (limited to RM3,000 a year);
  15. Zakat other than monthly zakat deduction from salary;
  16. Fees / Levy paid by a holder of an employment pass, visit pass (temporary employment) or work pass.

Further, the IRB has released a list of tax-free income and perquisites available to individual taxpayers. This list is listed here.

8 comments:

  1. You mean, if I incur these expenses anytime throughout the year, I can ask my employer to deduct it from my monthly PCB? For example, if I buy books in April, I can ask my employer to deduct from my May PCB?

    I used to only keep the receipts and declare it only when I file my income tax returns (Borang BE) every year.

    What difference would it make if I ask employer to deduct from PCB compared to if I declare it at the end of the year when I file my income tax returns (Borang BE)?

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  2. And, what is Borang TP1 anyway? And, how do I get it?

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  3. You can fill up the Form TP1 and give to your employer any time when you have incurred any of the above expenses. However, it is subject to approval by your employer.

    There is not much difference at the end for you. If you reduce your PCB monthly, then there will be less difference between your final tax and the total PCB deducted for the year.

    This new practice has caused a big problem for companies with large number of employees. Imagine a company with thousands of workers and every month, there are employees submitting Form TP1 and the company has to adjust the PCB deduction individually. That is why your employer is given the right to reject your request.

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  4. Borang TP1 has been explained in my posting on 2009 Schedular Tax Deduction. It can be downloaded from the IRB's website at http://www.hasil.gov.my/melayu/bm_NO3_11.asp

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  5. Thanks, gtchye, for your explanation on the difference between submitting TP1 to reduce monthly PCB vs. waiting till Borang BE submission.

    I suppose if we can do it monthly via TP1, then the benefit is:
    1. we will have a little more cashflow every month.
    2. Another benefit I can think of is, if I wait until end of the year to claim tax relief, chances are my PCB deductions are more than the actual tax I need to pay. Then, by that time, I will have to apply to Income Tax dept to get a refund....and that will take a long time to get my money back.

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  6. Dear gtchye,

    When they say new STD implemented by March, do they mean PCB deductions for March Salary or latest by April salary?

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  7. New STD should be implemented for Jan 09's salaries. However, the IRB gave a 3-month 'transitional period'. Beginning Apr 09, all companies have to use the new PCB deduction table.

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