A sample payslip
Payslips use Malay names, English ones or both. Here is a RM4,500 monthly salary in January 2026, for a single Malaysian under 60 with LINDUNG 24 Jam and no tax reliefs claimed, with both names for each line:
| On the payslip | What it is | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Gaji pokok | Basic salary | RM4,500.00 |
| KWSP | EPF, your 11% | −RM495.00 |
| PERKESO | SOCSO, with LINDUNG 24 Jam | −RM55.60 |
| SIP | EIS | −RM8.90 |
| PCB | Monthly tax deduction (MTD) | −RM80.00 |
| Gaji bersih | Net pay, what reaches your bank | RM3,860.50 |
| KWSP | EPF, 13% | RM585.00 |
|---|---|---|
| PERKESO | SOCSO | RM77.85 |
| SIP | EIS | RM8.90 |
Earnings: the top half
- Basic salary (gaji pokok) is the monthly salary in your contract.
- Allowances (elaun) are usually taxable, so PCB is worked out on them too. A few are tax-exempt; leave those out when you check your PCB in the calculator.
- Overtime (kerja lebih masa) is taxed and counts for SOCSO and EIS, but no EPF is taken from it. The overtime calculator works out the rates the Employment Act sets.
- A bonus counts as wages for EPF, and LHDN works out its PCB separately, as additional remuneration: see the bonus PCB calculator.
Deductions: what comes off
- KWSP (EPF): 11% of your wages if you’re under 60. Malaysians pay nothing from 60. It’s taken from KWSP’s Third Schedule, which puts wages in bands and rounds each share up to the ringgit, so it can be a little over 11%. The EPF rates guide has the bands.
- PERKESO (SOCSO): about 0.5% for the invalidity scheme, plus about 0.75% for LINDUNG 24 Jam since June 2026, read from PERKESO’s table up to RM6,000 a month. LINDUNG 24 Jam may be inside the SOCSO line or on a line of its own, as SKBBK. Here it’s RM33.35 of the RM55.60.
- SIP (EIS): 0.2% up to RM6,000, for the Employment Insurance System, which pays benefits if you lose your job. There’s none from 60, or for foreign workers.
- PCB (potongan cukai bulanan, or MTD): income tax taken in advance. Each month LHDN’s formula projects your year’s income, works out the year’s tax and spreads what’s left over the months to come. How PCB is calculated goes through it.
- Zakat, if you pay it through your employer, comes off your pay, and your PCB falls by the same amount.
- Anything else, such as a loan repayment, insurance or a union fee, isn’t a statutory contribution. Ask your payroll team about any line you don’t recognise.
Your employer’s contributions
On RM4,500 your employer pays RM585 EPF, RM77.85 SOCSO and RM8.90 EIS on top of your salary: RM5,171.75 a month in all. The EPF goes into your own EPF account. Your employer pays 13% EPF on salaries up to RM5,000 and 12% above; the employer cost guide has the figures for other salaries.
Checking your payslip
- Add up your basic salary and allowances, leaving out overtime: that’s the pay your EPF comes from. Check it in the EPF calculator.
- Add overtime back for SOCSO and EIS, and check them in the SOCSO and EIS calculator.
- Put your salary, marital status, children and any TP1 claims into the salary calculator for PCB. For a month other than January, the PCB calculator shows every month.
- If PCB is a few sen out, that’s the formula’s month-by-month projection. A bigger gap usually means a taxable allowance or benefit in kind, a bonus earlier in the year, or a TP1 claim the calculator doesn’t know about.