8th April 2026 - 4 min read
Your EA form covers employment income from your primary employer, but that’s often not the full picture. Freelance work, rental income, and a second job all need to be declared separately, and reliefs come with conditions that aren’t always obvious.
Errors tend to surface later, and by then the penalties under Section 113(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act 1967 can reach a fine of up to RM10,000 plus 200% of the tax undercharged. A few of the same mistakes come up repeatedly, starting with the filing deadline.
The deadline depends on your income type. Salaried employees filing Form BE have until 30 April 2026, with a grace period until 15 May 2026 for e-Filing. People using business income filing Form B have until 30 June 2026, extended to 15 July 2026 for e-Filing.
If you miss the grace period, LHDN will impose a 10% penalty on any outstanding tax balance. There is no automatic waiver for first-time offenders under the Income Tax Act 1967.
For first-time filers, registering with LHDN and actually being able to log in to e-Filing are two separate things.
Having a Tax Identification Number (TIN) (for MyKad holders, this is your IC number) does not automatically give you access to the MyTax portal. You need to activate your Digital Certificate through MyTax before you can file anything.
Your EA form covers employment income from your primary employer, but may not be your complete taxable income. Freelance income, rental income, royalties, dividends above the RM100,000 threshold for YA 2025, platform earnings from Shopee, Grab, or similar services, and income from a second job all need to be declared separately.
Under Section 113 of the Income Tax Act 1967, understating your income can result in a fine of RM1,000 to RM10,000 and a penalty of 200% of the tax undercharged. LHDN cross-references income data from multiple sources, so discrepancies do get picked up.
On top of that, cross-check that the PCB (Potongan Cukai Bulanan) figure in your e-Filing matches what is on your EA form. An error here will affect either your tax payable or your refund, and it is an easy thing to miss.
Don’t overclaim, declaring lifestyle relief purchases that do not qualify or claiming insurance relief without documentation can result in a fine of RM300 to RM10,000, imprisonment, or both under the Income Tax Act 1967, if it leads to tax being undercharged.
Underclaiming is just as costly, though the loss tends to go unnoticed. Reliefs that regularly get missed include:
The education and medical insurance cap increased from RM3,000 to RM4,000 for YA 2025, so if you have been using the old figure, revisit it before you file.
Under Section 91 of the Income Tax Act 1967, LHDN can audit your returns for up to five years from the end of the relevant year of assessment. Section 82A separately requires you to keep records of income, expenses, and assets for seven years. If you are audited and cannot produce receipts for the reliefs you claimed, those claims will be disallowed and penalties may follow, whether it is for medical expenses, insurance premiums, education fees, or lifestyle purchases.
A dedicated folder for receipts, physical or digital, kept throughout the year saves a lot of scrambling in March.
LHDN processes all refunds via Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) to the bank account registered on your MyTax profile. If that account is outdated, closed, or has a typo, your refund will not go through and LHDN will not contact you about it.
Check your bank details on MyTax before you submit, and update them if anything has changed.
Spotted an error after submitting? If it is before the filing deadline, write to the LHDN branch handling your file with a letter explaining the mistake and any supporting documents. Within six months of the deadline, you can submit an Amended Return Form (ARF) through MyTax, as long as your original return was filed on time.
For a full walkthrough of the e-Filing process, see our Income Tax Guide 2026 (YA 2025).
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Pugaleshwaran Raja Kumaran is a Tax Executive Director at ThinkTX Consultants, with over a decade of experience delivering strategic and practical tax solutions. He advises high-net-worth individuals, multinational corporations, and growing businesses, helping them manage complex tax matters with clarity and confidence.
He has extensive experience across a broad range of tax engagements, including corporate tax compliance, Capital Gains Tax (CGT), withholding tax, stamp duty, Real Property Gains Tax (RPGT), Sales and Service Tax (SST), and advisory on inbound and outbound investments. He also leads practice areas covering tax incentives, tax audits and investigations, private client advisory, tax due diligence, and e-Invoicing advisory, providing comprehensive support across the business life cycle.
Beyond client advisory, Pugaleshwaran actively contributes to the tax profession through writing and speaking on Malaysian tax policy, regulatory developments, and industry best practices. His work has been published by the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) and Wolters Kluwer (CCH), including contributions to Malaysia’s Sales and Service Tax (SST) content updates.
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As a trusted tax partner of RinggitPlus, Pugaleshwaran reviews and verifies Malaysian taxation content to ensure it is accurate, compliant, and relevant for everyday Malaysians.
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