How to Read Your EA Form

Every employer in Malaysia must give each employee an EA form (Borang EA) by the end of February each year. It is the single most important document for filing your taxes - and most people glance at one number and file. Reading it properly takes ten minutes and occasionally saves a great deal of money.

What the EA form is - and is not

The EA form is a statement of what your employer paid you and deducted from you during the calendar year. It is issued to you, not submitted by you: LHDN already receives the equivalent information from your employer separately. Your job is to use it as the reference when you complete e-Filing.

Getting it late, or not at all, is your employer’s failing rather than yours - but the filing deadline does not move because of it, so chase it early if it has not arrived by the start of March.

Walking through the parts

Part A - your particulars. Name, IC or passport number, staff number, your tax reference (TIN) and your period of employment. Check the TIN carefully: a wrong number can cause your income to be recorded against the wrong file.

Part B - employment income. The substantive section, and where the numbers you need live. It breaks down gross salary, fees and commissions, bonus, allowances, director fees, and any benefits-in-kind. Benefits-in-kind are the ones people overlook - a company car, fuel card, phone, or employer-provided accommodation all carry an assessed taxable value that appears here even though you never received cash.

Part C - pension and compensation. Relevant if you received a pension, an annuity, or compensation for loss of employment. Compensation for job loss carries partial exemptions, so this section matters if you were retrenched.

Part D - deductions. The tax already handled on your behalf: PCB (monthly tax deductions), any CP38 instalment deductions ordered by LHDN, zakat paid through salary, and reliefs you declared to your employer through Form TP1.

Part E - contributions. Your EPF contributions for the year and your SOCSO contributions. The EPF figure is what supports your EPF tax relief claim, capped at RM4,000.

The figures you actually need for e-Filing

Three numbers do most of the work:

• Total gross employment income (Part B) - what you declare as income.
• Total PCB deducted (Part D) - offset against your final bill; this is what produces a refund.
• EPF contributions (Part E) - supports your EPF relief.

Much of this is pre-filled in e-Filing from your employer’s submission. Do not assume the pre-filled figures are correct - check them against the EA form in your hand, because you remain responsible for what you submit.

What to check before you trust it

• Does the gross include your bonus? A bonus paid in the year belongs in that year’s EA form. A missing bonus means understated income.
• Does the PCB total match your payslips? Add up the monthly deductions and compare. A mismatch means either the EA form or the remittances are wrong.
• Did you change jobs? You need an EA form from every employer you had that year, and must declare all of them. Only declaring the last one is a common and costly error.
• Are benefits-in-kind included? If you had a company car or phone and Part B shows nothing for it, query it.
• Does the employment period look right? Especially if you joined or left mid-year.

If it is wrong

Go back to your HR or payroll department and ask for a corrected EA form. They can reissue it. Do not simply file different figures from those on the form without resolving the discrepancy - LHDN holds the employer’s version, and a mismatch invites questions.

Keep it for seven years

LHDN can review a filing years after submission, so store your EA forms - along with your relief receipts - for seven years. A folder or scanned copy is enough. Old EA forms are also useful evidence of income history for loan and visa applications.

Once you have the numbers, our income tax calculator shows what the year should cost you, and the filing guide covers e-Filing step by step.