# Offboarding statutory checklist

> Every statutory filing, deadline and withholding duty triggered when an employee leaves — LHDN, EPF, PERKESO, Immigration and JTKSM, in one place.

- Category: employment
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/employment/offboarding-statutory-checklist

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The exit interview is the part everyone remembers. The filings are the part that generates fines — and one of them, the tax-clearance withholding duty, is the reason a payroll officer who released a final salary on time and in good faith can end up explaining it to LHDN.

The trap is a genuine collision between two agencies. The Employment Act 1955 says pay the employee on their last day. LHDN says hold the money for 90 days or until tax clearance issues. Getting this wrong in either direction is a breach, and which rule governs depends on whether the case actually requires a tax clearance letter.

## The deadlines, in order

| Duty | Deadline | Authority |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Form CP22A — cessation of employment | **≥30 days before** cessation (or ≤30 days after being informed of a death) | LHDN |
| Form CP21 — employee leaving Malaysia >3 months, no intention to return | **≥30 days before** departure | LHDN |
| Withhold money payable pending tax clearance | **90 days** or until the clearance letter issues | LHDN |
| Final wages, normal termination | **Day of termination** (s.20) | JTKSM |
| Final wages, employee left without notice | **3rd day after** (s.21(2)) | JTKSM |
| Termination benefits + written calculation | **7 days** after the relevant date | JTKSM |
| Form PK Part V (retrenchment or VSS only) | **14 days after** the exercise | JTKSM |
| Form PK Part VI (retrenchment or VSS only) | **30 days after** the exercise | JTKSM |
| Foreign domestic employee — inform the DG | **30 days** after termination (s.57B) | JTKSM |
| Employee register retention | Inspectable for **6 years** (s.61(2)) | JTKSM |

Note that the two LHDN notification duties run **before** the exit, not after it. An employee who resigns with four weeks' notice leaves barely enough room for the 30-day CP22A window, and one who resigns with immediate effect leaves none — file as soon as the cessation is known.

## The withholding duty in practice

LHDN's instruction to employers is to withhold any money payable to the employee for **90 days or until a tax clearance letter is received**, in cases of cessation of employment, death, or departure from Malaysia without an intention to return. Submission for cases requiring clearance runs through the **e-SPC** application on the MyTax portal, which has been the channel since 1 September 2024.

Two cautions, and they point in opposite directions.

**Do not release early on a case that requires clearance.** The whole point of the retention is that the fund is still there when the tax position is settled. Non-compliance with the notification and withholding duties carries a fine of **RM200 to RM20,000, or imprisonment up to six months**, under s.120(1) of the Income Tax Act 1967.

**Do not withhold on a case that does not require clearance.** The duty attaches to tax-clearance cases, not to every leaver. Holding back a local employee's final salary for 90 days where no clearance is required is a straightforward breach of ss.20 and 21 of the Employment Act 1955, and s.15(1) deems an employer who fails to pay wages under Part III to have broken the contract.

Establish which category the employee falls into first. That single decision governs the entire final-pay timeline.

## Statutory schemes

**EPF.** Contributions cease with the last wage month; KWSP's published cessation duties address ceasing to *be an employer* rather than individual leavers. No per-employee cessation filing was confirmed.

**PERKESO.** An employee's resignation date is recorded through the ASSIST portal. The 30-day filing period found in PERKESO's material relates to ceasing as an employer, using Form 1A under Act 4 and Form SIP 3 under Act 800 — not to individual exits.

**HRD Corp.** Levy follows the wage bill, so it falls away with the final payroll. If the exit takes headcount below the mandatory threshold, the registration category may change — that is a separate question from the exit itself.

**Immigration.** An Employment Pass or PLKS is tied to the sponsoring employer and does not simply lapse quietly. Cancellation or shortening runs through the Expatriate Services Division portal, or the relevant sector regulator where the pass was sponsored outside ESD. Leaving a pass active after the employment ends is a live compliance risk for the employer, not the departing employee.

## Common mistakes

**Filing CP22A after the employee has gone.** The deadline is 30 days *before* cessation.

**Waiting for the next payroll run.** Sections 20 and 21(1) both say the day of termination. Only where the *employee* walked without notice does s.21(2) give three days.

**Withholding everything by default.** The 90-day retention is not a universal rule, and applying it to a straightforward local resignation breaches the Employment Act.

**Netting termination benefits against notice pay.** Regulation 6(4) of the TBLB Regulations 1980 makes them cumulative.

**Skipping the written calculation statement.** Regulation 12(1) requires it at the same time as payment, and omitting it is a separate offence.

**Forgetting Form PK Parts V and VI.** Where the exit is part of a retrenchment or VSS, two filings fall due *after* the exercise.

**Destroying the personnel file on exit.** Section 61(2) requires entries to remain inspectable for at least six years.

**Leaving the work pass live.** The employer sponsors it, and the employer carries the exposure.

## What's next

Build the sequence into the resignation workflow rather than the exit checklist: the moment a cessation date is known, decide the tax-clearance question, file CP22A or CP21, and set the final-pay date from that answer. For how the exit was reached and what is owed, see `termination-of-employment-malaysia` and `termination-benefits-malaysia`; for a group exercise, `retrenchment-malaysia`.

## Sources

- Employer's responsibilities — https://www.hasil.gov.my/en/majikan/tanggungjawab-majikan/ (LHDN)
- Employment Act 1955 (Act 265) — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-11/Akta%20Kerja%201955%20(Akta%20265)_0.pdf (JTKSM)
- Employment (Termination and Lay-Off Benefits) Regulations 1980 — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-03/8.%20EMPLOYMENT%20(TERMINATION%20&%20LAY%20OFF%20BENEFITS)%20REGULATIONS%201980_0.pdf (JTKSM)
- Borang PK — Pemberitahuan Pemberhentian Pekerja 2004 — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-06/borang_pk_0.pdf (JTKSM)
- Compliance and enforcement — employer responsibilities — https://www.kwsp.gov.my/en/employer/responsibilities/compliance (KWSP)

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