# Income Tax Act 1967 (Act 53)

> Statute entity page for Malaysia's principal direct tax law — what Act 53 governs, who administers it, how it is amended, and the articles that explain each part of it in practice.

- Category: law
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/law/income-tax-act-1967

---

This page is the statute record for Act 53 — its identity, structure, administration
and amendment pattern. It does not carry rates, reliefs or deadlines, because those
change faster than any statute page can honestly track. They live in the taxation
cluster linked at the foot of this page.

## At a glance

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Short title | Income Tax Act 1967 |
| Act number | Act 53 |
| Type | Act of Parliament (revised edition 1971) |
| Charge | Income accruing in or derived from Malaysia |
| Administered by | Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia (LHDN), under the Ministry of Finance |
| Amendment vehicle | Finance Acts, passed almost every year |
| Latest AGC online reprint | May 2024 |

## What the Act governs

Act 53 does four things. It imposes the charge to income tax and defines who is a
chargeable person. It defines chargeable income — the classes of income in s.4, the
deductions allowed and disallowed, capital allowances, and the reliefs and rebates.
It sets the machinery of assessment: returns, self-assessment, instalment payments,
appeals to the Special Commissioners of Income Tax, and the powers of audit and
investigation. And it imposes withholding obligations on specified payments to
non-residents.

Rates are not in the body of the Act. They sit in its **Schedules** — principally
Schedule 1 — and are moved by Finance Acts.

## Who administers it

**Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia** (the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia)
assesses and collects tax under the Act, operating under the Ministry of Finance.
LHDN also issues Public Rulings, operational guidelines and the MyInvois platform,
and it administers the several other direct-tax statutes that sit alongside Act 53,
including the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 and the Stamp Act 1949.

## How the Act changes

Three mechanisms, and mistaking one for another is the commonest error in published
Malaysian tax commentary:

| Mechanism | What it does | How often |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Finance Act** | Amends the Act's sections and Schedules, including rates | Almost annually, usually effective from the following year of assessment |
| **Subsidiary legislation (P.U.(A))** | Grants exemptions, prescribes deductions, sets rules | Continuously — dozens per year |
| **Public Rulings and guidelines** | LHDN's stated interpretation; not law, but the position the Board will take | Irregular; supersession is not always signposted |

AGC's timeline for Act 53 records revised and reprinted editions at October 1971
(revision), then reprints in 1980, 1993, 2002 and 2006, and online reprints in
October 2017, March 2021, June 2022, November 2023 and May 2024. The volume of
subsidiary legislation is the largest attached to any Malaysian statute — the AGC
gazette API returns instruments under Act 53 by the hundred.

**The practical consequence: never quote Act 53 from a reprint alone.** Check the
Finance Acts passed since the reprint date, and check whether an exemption order
covers your facts. A reprint is a snapshot, not the current law.

## Where the practical rules live

| Topic | Article |
| --- | --- |
| The administering agency | [LHDN](/en/government/lhdn) |
| Company rates | [Corporate tax rates](/en/taxation/corporate-tax-rates) |
| Individual rates | [Personal tax rates](/en/taxation/personal-tax-rates) |
| Reliefs | [Personal tax reliefs](/en/taxation/personal-tax-reliefs) |
| Which return to file | [Which tax form](/en/taxation/which-tax-form) |
| Company filing and instalments | [Form C and CP204](/en/taxation/form-c-and-cp204) |
| Deductibility | [Section 33 deductibility](/en/taxation/section-33-deductibility) |
| Withholding | [Withholding tax rates](/en/taxation/withholding-tax-rates) |

## Sources

- Act 53 — Income Tax Act 1967, principal Act timeline and subsidiary legislation — https://lom.agc.gov.my/act-detail.php?act=53 (Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia)
- Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia — https://www.hasil.gov.my/ (LHDN)
- Profil Korporat — Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia — https://www.hasil.gov.my/mengenai-hasil/profil-korporat/ (LHDN)

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