# EPF, SOCSO and EIS: Where to Start as an Employer

> A routing page for Malaysian statutory contributions — which of EPF, SOCSO, EIS and the wider payroll calendar you need, and which detailed guide answers your question.

- Category: employment
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/employment/epf-socso-guide

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Employers keep calling this one obligation. It is three, and they do not share a
statute, an agency, a rate structure or a coverage rule. The only thing they
have in common is the remittance date.

## Which guide you need

| If your question is | Read |
| --- | --- |
| How much EPF do I deduct and pay? | [EPF for employers](/en/employment/epf-employer-guide) |
| Do I contribute EPF for a foreign worker? | [EPF for foreign workers](/en/employment/epf-foreign-workers-malaysia) |
| What are the SOCSO categories, and what is EIS? | [SOCSO and EIS for employers](/en/employment/socso-eis-employer-guide) |
| What else falls due, and when? | [Malaysian payroll compliance calendar](/en/employment/payroll-compliance-malaysia) |
| I just want the rate table | [Statutory contribution rates and deadlines](/en/employment/payroll-rates-deadlines-malaysia) |
| I have hired someone and need the full checklist | [New hire statutory checklist](/en/employment/new-hire-statutory-checklist) |

## The three schemes in one paragraph each

**EPF (KWSP)** is retirement savings under the Employees Provident Fund Act
1991. The critical mechanic, and the one most payroll errors come from, is that
EPF is **a table, not a percentage**: contributions are read off the Third
Schedule in wage bands, and exact-percentage arithmetic is only permitted above
RM20,000 in monthly wages. Which Part of the Third Schedule applies depends on
citizenship, age and, for some employees, elections made decades ago.

**SOCSO (PERKESO)** is employment injury and invalidity protection under the
Employees' Social Security Act 1969. It runs on two categories keyed to age, and
on an **insured wage ceiling of RM6,000**, in force since 1 October 2024.

**EIS (PERKESO)** is job-loss insurance under the Employment Insurance System
Act 2018 (Act 800). Same RM6,000 ceiling, a narrower age range, and a separate
rate. It is not a component of SOCSO, despite being collected alongside it.

## What is the same across all three

- **Remittance by the 15th** of the month following the wage month.
- **Registration before the first contribution falls due**, not after.
- **Records retained** in support of every contribution period.

## What is different in every one

Coverage of **foreign workers** diverges sharply across the three, and the
position moved in 2024–2026 in all of them. Anything written before that — and
much of what still ranks — describes repealed rules. Follow the foreign-worker
links above rather than generalising from the local-employee position.

## What's next

If you are setting up payroll for the first time, start with the payroll
compliance calendar, which arranges every duty by when it falls due rather than
by which agency collects it. If payroll is already running and you need to check
a single figure, the statutory rates and deadlines reference gives each number
with the authority that publishes it.

## Sources

- Employees Provident Fund (KWSP) — https://www.kwsp.gov.my/ (EPF)
- Social Security Organisation (PERKESO) — https://www.perkeso.gov.my/ (PERKESO)

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Source of truth: https://github.com/negaraku-md/NegaraKu.md
License: CC BY-SA 4.0