How to Maximize Your Tax Reliefs in Malaysia (YA 2025/2026)

Every ringgit of tax relief you claim reduces your chargeable income, the figure LHDN applies the progressive tax brackets to. Plenty of Malaysians overpay each year because they miss reliefs they were entitled to all along. Here is a practical walkthrough of the biggest claims for the Years of Assessment 2025 and 2026, including what changed in Budget 2026.

Every resident individual taxpayer automatically receives the RM9,000 individual relief. No receipts, no forms, no conditions. It is deducted before anything else. On top of that, supporting a non-working spouse adds RM4,000, and each unmarried child under 18 adds RM2,000 (more for children in tertiary education or with disabilities).

If your chargeable income after all reliefs lands at RM35,000 or below, you also qualify for the RM400 individual rebate, which comes straight off your tax payable rather than your income.

The lifestyle relief of up to RM2,500 covers purchases for yourself, your spouse or children:

• Books, journals, magazines and printed newspapers
• Personal computers, smartphones and tablets
• Monthly internet/broadband subscription bills
• Self-improvement or skill enhancement course fees

From YA 2026, Budget 2026 also lets you claim selected eco-friendly and home safety items, such as food waste composting machines and home CCTV systems, under this relief, claimable once across YA 2026 and YA 2027.

Separately, there is an additional RM1,000 sports relief (raised from RM500 in YA 2024) for sports equipment, gym memberships, sports facility rental or entrance fees, competition registration fees and sports training. If you pay for broadband and a gym membership anyway, these two reliefs alone can shave RM3,500 off your chargeable income.

A common misconception is that EPF and life insurance share one RM7,000 pool. For private-sector employees they are two separate caps:

• EPF contributions, up to RM4,000 (mandatory salary contributions and voluntary self-contributions both count)
• Life insurance or family takaful premiums, up to RM3,000

(Pensionable public servants who do not contribute to EPF may instead claim up to RM7,000 solely for life insurance premiums.)

On top of that, education and medical insurance premiums qualify for a further relief of up to RM4,000. From YA 2026, Budget 2026 extends this to policies covering your children, not just yourself and your spouse.

Medical expenses have their own generous limit: up to RM10,000 for serious diseases and fertility treatment for yourself, spouse or child. Within that RM10,000, there are sub-limits of RM1,000 for a full medical check-up, RM1,000 for mental health examinations or consultations, and RM1,000 for vaccinations. Budget 2026 widens the vaccination relief to all vaccines registered with the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA).

• SSPN net savings, up to RM8,000 for deposits into your child's national education savings account
• Childcare/kindergarten fees, up to RM3,000, expanded in Budget 2026 to cover children up to age 12 (previously age 6)
• Domestic tourism, up to RM1,000, reintroduced for YA 2026 only, covering entrance fees to tourist attractions and cultural or arts programmes in Malaysia
• Disabled child early intervention, up to RM10,000, raised from RM6,000 in Budget 2026 for screening, early intervention and rehabilitation
• Breastfeeding equipment, up to RM1,000 for working mothers, claimable once every two years

• Keep receipts for 7 years. LHDN can audit past claims; digital copies are acceptable but keep them organised by year.
• Claim in the year you paid. Reliefs follow the payment date, not the delivery or usage date.
• Don't double-claim between spouses. If you file separately, each receipt can only be used by one spouse.

To see how much these reliefs save you, plug your numbers into our calculator below. It applies every limit above automatically.