CP37 Withholding Tax Forms — Which One, and When

Nobody chooses a withholding tax form from a description of the payment. You determine the section first, and the form falls out of it. Get the section wrong and the form will be wrong too, which is how a correctly calculated remittance ends up sitting against the wrong liability.

The directory

Form	Version	Section	Covers
CP37	Pin. 1/2024	s.109	Royalty and interest paid to a non-resident
CP37S	Pin. 1/2025	s.109	The same, small-value deferment
CP37A	Pin. 1/2024	s.107A	Contract payments to non-resident contractors
CP37D	Pin. 1/2024	s.109B	Special classes of income under s.4A
CP37D(1)	Pin. 1/2024	s.109B	s.4A income for Joint Development Area projects, P.U.(A) 398/95
CP37DS	Pin. 1/2025	s.109B	s.4A income, small-value deferment
CP37E	Pin. 1/2024	s.109D	REIT and property trust fund distributions
CP37E(NR)	Pin. 1/2024	s.109DA	Retail money market fund, non-resident unit holders
CP37E(R)	Pin. 1/2025	s.109DA	Retail money market fund, resident unit holders
CP37E(T)	Pin. 1/2024	s.109E	Family fund, takaful family fund and general fund distributions
CP37F	Pin. 1/2024	s.109F	Paragraph 4(f) income paid to a non-resident
CP37G	Pin. 1/2024	s.109G	Deferred annuity and private retirement scheme withdrawals before 55
CP154	—	s.109A	Non-resident public entertainers, with an LHDN tax computation
CP107D	—	s.107D	2 per cent on payments to resident agents, dealers and distributors

Version numbers matter. LHDN reissued the CP37 series in 2024 and moved CP37S, CP37DS and CP37E(R) to a 2025 edition. Download from the Withholding Tax page each time rather than reusing last year’s template.

The remittance rule

For ss.107A, 109, 109A, 109B and 109F the statutory wording is the same: the payer must, whether or not the tax was actually deducted, render an account and pay within one month after paying or crediting the payee.

Three qualifications carry most of the practical risk.

• Crediting is not payment. Public Ruling 10/2019 para 13.1 defines it as more than a journal entry or accrual — the amount must be available to or for the benefit of the payee — and expressly includes a contra entry offsetting a balance the payee owes you. The date of crediting starts the clock.
• Weekends and holidays roll forward. Para 17 of the same Ruling: where the last day falls on a weekly holiday or public holiday in Malaysia, the next working day is the due date. Its Example 28 rolls a Sunday 23 June deadline to Monday 24 June.
• Section 107D is different. Not one month, but not later than the end of the following calendar month, under s.107D(1).

The small-value deferment

CP37S and CP37DS exist so that recurring low-value payments — foreign software subscriptions, small licence fees — do not force a monthly remittance. Both conditions must hold:

1. the withholding tax does not exceed RM500.00 per payment transaction; and
2. the small-value payment transactions occur more than once within the relevant six-month period.

The permitted payment periods are:

• on or before 30 June for transactions from 1 December of the previous year to 31 May of the current year; and
• on or before 31 December for transactions from 1 June to 30 November.

The forms have their own quirk. Column C12 takes either 31 May or 30 November as the date paid or credited, matching the window, not the actual transaction dates.

How payment is made

LHDN accepts manual payment at a Revenue Management Centre counter — bank drafts only — or online through e-services, e-TT and e-WHT.

Every withholding tax payment must have a bill number generated so the payment can be receipted. LHDN’s current guidance on the Withholding Tax page is that the payment form and supporting documents need not be submitted to LHDN, and should instead be kept in order and produced promptly on request.

This sits uneasily with Public Ruling 10/2019, which still instructs payers to complete CP37D and submit it with invoice copies, remittance evidence and — for a treaty rate — the payee’s certificate of residence. The Ruling has not been reissued since 2019 and the payment process has moved on. Prepare the form and the supporting pack either way; the retention obligation is the same and the evidential burden on a treaty rate is entirely yours.

Common mistakes

• Choosing CP37D because the invoice says “consulting”. The section decides. A licence fee for software is royalty on CP37, however the vendor describes it.
• Using CP37S as a shortcut for a single small payment. One transaction in a half-year fails the second condition.
• Filing the current year’s form from an old saved copy. Superseded editions are still in circulation across the web.
• Remitting without a bill number. The payment cannot be receipted against your account.
• Assuming the treaty rate applies because the payee said so. Without written confirmation of residence from that country’s revenue authority, withhold at the domestic rate.

What’s next

Match every foreign payment in the last twelve months to a section and then to a form. withholding-tax-rates is the mapping table; withholding-tax-non-compliance is what any gaps cost.