4th November 2026 - 5 min read
Around 550,000 people were still waiting for their income tax refunds at the end of October 2026, according to Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, who shared the update in the Dewan Rakyat. That’s half of the one million people who were waiting in December 2025.
The government paid RM20.27 billion in refunds to 3.65 million taxpayers up to the end of October, Amir Hamzah said. He didn’t say how much is still owed. At the end of September, the total was RM17.15 billion for 3.23 million taxpayers. By our count, 420,000 more taxpayers got their refunds in October alone.
Individuals and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are first in line. Of the RM20.27 billion, RM6.84 billion went to about 3.4 million individuals, which works out to around RM2,000 each. Another RM13.04 billion went to 206,234 companies, including MSMEs.
Most employees pay income tax every month through PCB, which your employer takes from your salary. When you file your tax return, LHDN works out how much tax you owed for the whole year. If your PCB came to more than that, LHDN pays the difference back to you.
For example, your employer took RM3,000 in PCB from your salary in 2025, but your tax bill after reliefs was only RM2,200. LHDN owes you RM800. You don’t need to apply for this refund. LHDN pays the refund into the bank account you saved in MyTax.
If your bank account in MyTax is closed or out of date, LHDN can’t send the refund. In November 2025, the Ministry of Finance also told Parliament that most refund delays were caused by tax returns that were incomplete or had mistakes. That includes income you left out or reliefs you claimed wrongly, which is why LHDN has reminded taxpayers to declare their income accurately.
Some delays have nothing to do with you. LHDN is clearing the oldest cases first, according to the Ministry of Finance in October 2026. LHDN is also focusing on MSMEs and businesses that are short on cash.
LHDN’s Client Charter promises to pay refunds within 30 working days for e-Filing and 90 working days for paper forms. The count starts when LHDN receives a complete and correct tax return. Missing the 30 working days doesn’t, by itself, mean LHDN owes you anything extra.
The extra payment comes from Section 111D of the Income Tax Act 1967. Under LHDN’s guidelines on late refunds, you get compensation of 2% a year, counted day by day. The compensation only starts 90 days after the filing deadline for e-Filing, or 120 days after the deadline for paper forms. You must also have filed your return and paid your taxes on time.
For Form BE e-Filing for YA 2025, the deadline was 15 May 2026. So compensation started on 14 August 2026. A refund paid before that date gets no compensation, even if LHDN missed its 30-working-day promise.
In an October 2026 parliamentary reply, the Ministry of Finance said LHDN paid RM109 million in compensation in the first nine months of 2026. That covered more than 270,000 cases. For the whole of 2025, LHDN paid RM23.64 million across 187,381 cases. In the same reply, the ministry said that if you’re eligible and haven’t received your compensation, you can contact LHDN to have your case reviewed.
The table below shows the compensation on three refund amounts, by our calculation. The calculation uses 2% a year, counted from the day after compensation starts.
| Refund Amount | 30 Days Late | 90 Days Late |
| RM500 | RM0.82 | RM2.47 |
| RM1,000 | RM1.64 | RM4.93 |
| RM2,000 | RM3.29 | RM9.86 |
LHDN, by comparison, charges a 10% penalty when taxpayers pay their tax late. On the same RM1,000, that’s a RM100 penalty, against RM4.93 in compensation for a refund paid 90 days late.
Log in to the MyTax portal and go to the refund section, where your refund is shown as a tracker from processing to paid. If your refund is stuck, start with your bank account. Use e-Kemaskini to check that your bank details are correct and the account is still active.
LHDN also advises checking your e-Lejar (tax ledger) for any tax you still owe. The e-Lejar lists every tax payment you’ve made and every refund LHDN has paid. If your bank details and e-Lejar both look right and your refund still hasn’t come, call the HASiL Care Line at 03-8911 1000. You can also visit the LHDN office that handles your tax file.
Do note that LHDN doesn’t send links about refund status by SMS, email, or WhatsApp. With so many people waiting, a message asking you to “claim” your refund through a link is a red flag. Check only through the official LHDN website or the MyTax portal.
For next year, keep your MyTax details up to date all year round, as LHDN has reminded taxpayers to do. The 30-working-day count starts when LHDN receives your return, so filing early could get your refund to you sooner.
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As a creative content writer, Eloise has covered finance, business, lifestyle topics, and even moonlights as a singer-songwriter outside of RinggitPlus. Her current interests are learning the best ways to optimise spending and credit card hacks to gain more airline miles.
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