A Malaysian employer owes three separate statutory contribution streams, each with its own governing Act, its own rate structure and its own portal. EPF sits under the Employees Provident Fund Act 1991 and is computed off the Third Schedule table. SOCSO and EIS both sit with PERKESO, under Act 4 and Act 800 respectively, and share the RM6,000 insured-wage ceiling. All three are remitted by the 15th of the month following the wage month.
- Three schemes, three statutes, two agencies — EPF with KWSP, SOCSO and EIS with PERKESO
- EPF is a table lookup, not a percentage calculation, for wages up to RM20,000
- SOCSO and EIS are capped at an insured wage of RM6,000, unchanged since 1 October 2024
- All three contributions are remitted by the 15th of the following month
- Foreign workers are treated differently in every one of the three schemes
Who this applies to: Employers, HR and payroll administrators looking for the right statutory contribution guide.
On this page
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 |
| Do I contribute EPF for a foreign worker? | EPF for foreign workers |
| What are the SOCSO categories, and what is EIS? | SOCSO and EIS for employers |
| What else falls due, and when? | Malaysian payroll compliance calendar |
| I just want the rate table | Statutory contribution rates and deadlines |
| I have hired someone and need the full checklist | 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
Change history
| Version | Date | Change | By |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01.00 | 20 Jul 2026 | Approved and published. | — |