# EPF for Foreign Workers: The 2 Per Cent Mandate Under Part F

> Since the October 2025 wage month, EPF contributions for non-Malaysian citizen employees are mandatory at 2 per cent from each side under the new Part F of the Third Schedule.

- Category: employment
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/employment/epf-foreign-workers-malaysia

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For twenty-seven years, EPF for a foreign worker was something an employer could
largely ignore: the employee could elect to join, and if they did, the employer's
share was a flat RM5 a month regardless of salary. That arrangement no longer
exists. It was not amended — it was deleted.

Since the **October 2025 wage month**, contributions for non-Malaysian citizen
employees are mandatory at **2 per cent from the employer and 2 per cent from the
employee**, under a newly inserted **Part F** of the Third Schedule to the EPF
Act 1991.

## Is 2 per cent permanent or a phase-in?

Permanent, on the face of the statute.

Part F does not contain a wage table, a ceiling, or a staged schedule. It states
the rate as 2 per cent of the amount of wages for the month by the employer and
2 per cent by the employee, adds that the total contribution including cents is
rounded to the next ringgit, and stops. There is no sunset clause and no
scheduled escalation.

This is worth stating plainly because a genuinely phased scheme launched in the
same period — PERKESO's LINDUNG 24 Jam, which moves from 0.75 to 1.0 to
1.25 per cent over six years — and the two are being conflated in commentary.
EPF Part F is flat. SKBBK is phased.

## Who exactly is covered?

The EPF describes the liable group as non-Malaysian citizen employees who:

- hold a **valid passport and work pass** issued by the Immigration Department
  of Malaysia;
- are employed under a **contract of service or apprenticeship**;
- have **wages paid in the form of money**; and
- are **below 75 years of age**.

Registration and contribution are the employer's responsibility. The employer
pays both shares to the EPF and may deduct the employee's share from salary.

### Domestic servants are out

The single carve-out is domestic servants. The EPF applies the definition in
section 3 of the Workmen's Compensation Act 1952, which covers people working
as, among others, maids, cooks, gardeners, cleaners, babysitters and drivers.

A household employing a live-in helper therefore has no Part F obligation. A
company employing a driver on its own payroll should look carefully at which
side of that line the role sits.

## What replaced the RM5 regime?

Parts B and D of the Third Schedule — the elective regime for non-citizens who
registered from 1 August 1998, under which the employee contributed a percentage
and the employer paid a flat RM5 monthly — were **deleted by Act A1760/2025**.

The change is structural rather than incremental:

| | Before | From October 2025 wages |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Participation | Elective, at the employee's option | Mandatory |
| Employer share | Flat RM5 per month | 2 per cent of wages |
| Employee share | Percentage under Part B or D | 2 per cent of wages |
| Schedule Part | B (under 60) or D (60 and over) | F, regardless of age |

One consequence deserves emphasis. Non-citizens who had already elected to
contribute **before 1 August 1998** were never in Parts B and D — they sit in
Parts A and C alongside permanent residents, at the full 13, 12 or 6.5 per cent
rates. That small legacy population is unaffected by this change. Everyone else
who is not a citizen or permanent resident moves to Part F.

## What do you actually have to do?

**Register.** Non-citizen employees must be registered with the EPF. The EPF has
introduced automatic registration to reduce the manual burden on employers, and
publishes guides for handling non-citizen employees through e-Payroll, the
i-Akaun (Employer) web portal and the i-Akaun (Employer) app.

**Contribute by the 15th.** The deadline is the same as for every other EPF
contribution: on or before the 15th of the month following the wage month. The
EPF's own worked timing for the first cycle — salary for October 2025 falls in
the November 2025 contribution month and had to be paid on or before
15 November 2025.

**Pay in whole ringgit.** EPF contributions must be paid in ringgit denominations
without any cent value, and Part F directs that the total including cents is
rounded to the next ringgit.

**Use at least the minimum wage as the base.** The EPF states that for
contribution purposes the amount for non-Malaysian citizen employees, excluding
domestic helpers, must be calculated on at least the minimum wage rate
prescribed under the prevailing Minimum Wages Order. Enforcement of the Order
itself belongs to the Ministry of Human Resources, but the EPF applies its own
floor when computing what you owe.

## How this sits alongside the other schemes

Foreign workers are not uniformly in or out of Malaysian statutory payroll. The
pattern is scheme by scheme, and this is where employers make errors of
generalisation:

- **EPF** — in, at 2 per cent both ways under Part F.
- **SOCSO** — in.
- **LINDUNG 24 Jam (SKBBK)** — mandatory for foreign workers, while being
  voluntary for locals. The reverse of the intuition most employers have.
- **EIS** — confirm before configuring; see
  [SOCSO and EIS](/en/employment/socso-eis-employer-guide).

## Common mistakes

**Still paying RM5.** The provision authorising it was repealed. This is the
error most likely to be sitting in a payroll system today, because it ran
unchanged for over two decades.

**Treating Part F as optional.** The whole point of the change is that election
was abolished. Neither employer nor employee can decline.

**Applying wage bands.** Part F has none. It is a straight 2 per cent on actual
wages, unlike Part A where the table governs below RM20,000.

**Applying a lower rate to non-citizens aged 60 and over.** Part F sets
2 per cent for both stages — under 60 and 60 and above alike. The age-graded
reductions in Parts C and E do not reach Part F.

**Assuming expatriates on high salaries are outside it.** There is no ceiling in
Part F. A pass holder earning RM30,000 attracts RM600 from each side.

**Contributing for domestic helpers.** They are excluded, and the exclusion is
defined by reference to the Workmen's Compensation Act 1952.

## What's next

Pull a list of every non-citizen on your payroll, confirm each has a valid work
pass and an EPF membership number, and check what rate your system is applying.
If it shows RM5, or nothing at all, you have arrears running from the October
2025 wage month.

For the rest of the Third Schedule — including why percentage arithmetic is not
permitted for citizens and permanent residents below RM20,000 — see the
[EPF employer guide](/en/employment/epf-employer-guide). For how this
duty sits among the other four monthly remittances, see the
[payroll compliance calendar](/en/employment/payroll-compliance-malaysia).

## Sources

- Contribution For Non-Malaysian Citizen Employees — https://www.kwsp.gov.my/en/employer/responsibilities/non-malaysian-citizen-employees (KWSP)
- Third Schedule effective 1 October 2025 — https://www.kwsp.gov.my/documents/d/guest/third_schedule_from_-1-october-2025 (KWSP)
- Employer Mandatory Contribution — https://www.kwsp.gov.my/en/employer/responsibilities/mandatory-contribution (KWSP)

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