# Appealing an LHDN Tax Assessment

> The whole appeal ladder against an income tax assessment, from the 30-day Form Q clock through the s.101 review and the Dispute Resolution Department to the Special Commissioners and the High Court.

- Category: taxation
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/taxation/tax-appeal

---

The single fact that decides most Malaysian tax appeals is not in the appeal
provisions at all. It sits in **s.103(1)** of the Income Tax Act 1967: tax under
an assessment is due and payable on the due date **whether or not that person
appeals against the assessment**. Section 103(2) repeats it for audit,
best-judgment and increased assessments. And **s.106(3)** closes the loop — in
recovery proceedings the court **shall not entertain any plea** that the amount
is excessive, incorrectly assessed or *under appeal*.

So an appeal buys you a review. It does not buy you time. Unpaid tax picks up a
**10% increase** under s.103(3) or (5) while the appeal runs, remittable only at
the Director General's discretion for good cause under s.103(9).

## What is actually appealable

Section 99(1) gives a right of appeal to a person **aggrieved by an assessment
made in respect of him**. But s.99(4) carves out the two commonest documents in
a self-assessment system:

- a **deemed assessment** under s.90(1) — your own return, deemed to be an
  assessment on the day it is filed; and
- a **deemed assessment on an amended return** under s.91A.

You cannot appeal your own numbers. The exception is narrow: you *may* appeal a
deemed assessment where you disagree with the treatment in a Public Ruling, or
with the Director General's **position, ruling or practice** prevailing when the
assessment was made — a private or advance ruling, an LHDN guideline, a decided
SCIT or court case, or another written statement (PR 7/2020, para 4.2).

What is squarely appealable: an assessment, additional assessment, advance
assessment or notice of non-chargeability raised out of an **audit or
investigation**, and a best-judgment assessment under s.90(3) or s.91(1). A
composite assessment under s.96A is not — it is issued only after agreement has
already been reached.

## The 30-day clock, and what it runs from

The clock runs from **service of the notice of assessment**, not from the date
you open the envelope and not from the *Surat Penyelesaian Kes* that preceded
it. Thirty days. Two variations:

- **Advance assessment (s.92):** the window is instead the first **three months
  of the following year of assessment**.
- **Best-judgment assessment on a non-filer (s.90(3)):** for a company, LLP,
  trust body or co-operative, s.99(1A) requires the outstanding **return to be
  filed together with Form Q**, inside the same 30 days. Form Q alone is not an
  appeal.

## Form Q is more procedural than people expect

Form Q is **CP 14**, currently Pin. 1/2025, prescribed under s.152. The traps
are administrative, and each is fatal on its own.

| Requirement | Source |
| --- | --- |
| **Four copies** per year of assessment — one original, three photocopies | PR 7/2020 para 7.1 |
| A **separate notice for every year of assessment** | Form CP 14, note (i) |
| Signed by **the person assessed** — for a company or LLP, the person authorised under s.75 or s.75B | PR 7/2020 para 7.3.3 |
| **Not** signed by a tax agent or an advocate | PR 7/2020 para 7.4 |
| Not bundled with other documents; grounds of appeal stated in full | PR 7/2020 paras 7.2, 8.1 |
| **Email and electronic submission are not accepted** | LHDN appeal page, updated 25 June 2026 |
| An incomplete Form Q is **returned** to the appellant | PR 7/2020 para 7.5 |

That last combination is the one that bites. A Form Q returned for
incompleteness on day 28 leaves you two days, and the electronic channel every
other LHDN filing now uses is closed to you.

There is not one Form Q but five — separate versions for the Income Tax
Act 1967, the **Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976**, the Petroleum (Income Tax)
Act 1967, **s.109H withholding tax** cases and **s.6D of the Labuan Business
Activity Tax Act 1990**. RPGT appeals are not a separate regime: s.18 of the
RPGT Act applies ss.99 to 102 and Schedule 5 with the necessary modifications.

## Missing the 30 days: Form N

A late appeal is made by applying for an extension of time under **s.100**,
using **Form N** — two copies per year of assessment, also paper only. Since
YA2020 the application must be made **within seven years** after the end of the
30-day period. For years of assessment before 2020 no outer limit was
prescribed, which is why older guidance shows none.

If the Director General is satisfied there was reasonable cause, he extends the
period and issues **Form CP15A**, which gives you **30 days from its date** to
lodge Form Q. If he is not satisfied, s.100(2)(b) requires him to forward the
application to the Secretary to the Special Commissioners together with **Form
CP15B**, his statement of reasons. You then have **21 days** to make written
representations. One Special Commissioner decides, and that decision is
**final** — there is no appeal from it.

## The s.101 review, and two silent deadlines

On receipt of the notice of appeal the Director General must **review the
assessment within twelve months** (s.101(1)). He may apply to the Minister for
an extension no later than 30 days before that period expires, and the Minister
may grant up to **six further months** (ss.101(1A) and (1B)). The Minister's
decision is final.

Two subsections inside s.101 convert silence into a binding settlement:

- **s.101(3)** — where you reach an **oral** agreement and LHDN serves a written
  confirmation, the agreement becomes binding unless you repudiate it in writing
  within **21 days**.
- **s.101(4)** — where LHDN serves **written proposals** to confirm, reduce,
  increase or discharge the assessment and you neither accept nor reject them,
  they are **deemed accepted** after **30 days**.

A deemed agreement can be set aside, but only by applying to a Special
Commissioner **within 30 days** of the deemed agreement (s.101(5)), and again
that decision is final.

## The Dispute Resolution Department and PRP

Between filing and the Special Commissioners sits a stage almost no competitor
page describes. **Prosiding Resolusi Pertikaian (PRP)** is LHDN's alternative
dispute resolution platform, introduced on **1 July 2013**, in which the
**Jabatan Resolusi Pertikaian (JRP)** or the relevant State Director's Office
acts as a neutral intermediary to reach an out-of-court settlement before the
case is sent to the Special Commissioners.

You can request a session **in writing, by letter or email, as soon as you
receive the branch letter acknowledging your Form Q**. JRP itself handles files
held by the Multinational Tax, Special Industry, Large Taxpayer and Investigation
branches and the Special Operations and Special Task departments; everything else
goes to the State Director's Office. PRP covers not only s.99 appeals but s.97A
non-chargeability cases, s.109H withholding appeals, s.43 petroleum appeals,
s.18 RPGT appeals, and **relief applications** under ss.131 and 131A.

The published *Garis Panduan Prosiding Resolusi Pertikaian* is dated **March
2019** and still cross-refers to Public Ruling 12/2017, which PR 7/2020
superseded. Treat the procedure as current and the citation as stale.

## The Special Commissioners

If no agreement is reached, the Director General sends the appeal forward under
s.102, and Schedule 5 governs from there.

- **Composition:** three Special Commissioners, at least one with judicial or
  legal experience — but para 1A lets the Chairman direct that the appeal be
  heard by **a single member** for expedition.
- **Notice:** at least **28 days** of the date and place (para 8). Sittings are
  held in Ipoh, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Malacca and Penang.
- **Onus:** para 13 puts the burden of proving the assessment excessive or
  erroneous squarely **on the appellant**.
- **Privacy:** proceedings are heard **in camera** (para 43) — unless the
  Director General applies for a public hearing, in which case the Commissioners
  *shall* so direct, over your objection.
- **Costs:** no order as to costs is made except in one case — a **vexatious or
  frivolous** appeal, where para 29 allows costs to the Commissioners of up to
  **RM5,000**.

The outcome is a **deciding order** which confirms or discharges the assessment,
or directs the Director General to amend it (para 26).

## The High Court, and where it stops

Either party may appeal to the **High Court on a question of law only**
(Schedule 5, para 34(1)). The mechanics are tight.

| Step | Deadline |
| --- | --- |
| File notice of appeal with the Secretary | **21 days** from the date of the decision |
| Extend a copy to the High Court registry, serve a duplicate on every other party, and apply in writing for the notes of proceedings and grounds of decision | the same 21 days |
| File the record of appeal in the High Court | **60 days** from filing the notice of appeal |
| Respondent's objection to the draft index of documents | **48 hours** |

The record must be filed within the 60 days **even if the notes of proceedings
or grounds of decision are not ready**; they follow as a supplementary record
(para 34A(3) and (4)). The High Court may extend the time to file the notice of
appeal (para 34(7)). From there, para 41 gives the same rights of further appeal
as exist from its appellate civil jurisdiction — Court of Appeal, then Federal
Court.

## The other ladders

**Stamp duty** does not touch the Special Commissioners at all: s.38A of the
Stamp Act 1949 gives a **30-day notice of objection** to the Collector, and s.39
then gives **21 days** to appeal to the **High Court** — expressly *upon payment
of duty in conformity* with the decision. Pay first, argue after.

Where the assessment turns on a treaty issue, s.102(1A) suspends the appeal:
while a **mutual agreement procedure** application on the same ground is running,
no appeal may be sent forward, and after the MAP determination you have **30
days** to ask the Director General to forward it, which he must then do within
**three months**.

## Appeal or relief?

Where the problem is your own return rather than LHDN's assessment, the appeal
route is closed and the **relief** route is open.

| Route | Covers | Time limit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **s.131** | error or mistake in your own return | **5 years** after the end of the year of assessment in which the deemed assessment was made |
| **s.131A** | not an error — a gazetted exemption, incentive approval or deduction obtained *after* filing | **5 years** from the later of gazette or approval; **1 year** for the withholding-payment limb |
| **s.97A(5)** | amending a return where there is **no chargeable income** | **6 months** from filing, for error or mistake |

Relief is applied for by letter or **Form CP15C**. Two conditions catch people:
it is refused where the return followed LHDN's prevailing position — so you
cannot use relief to relitigate a Public Ruling — and **all tax assessed must
already be paid**. If relief is refused, you have **six months** to ask in
writing that the application be sent to the Special Commissioners; LHDN must
forward it within three months.

## Common mistakes

**Treating the appeal as a stay of payment.** It is not, and s.106(3) removes
the argument entirely from recovery proceedings. Budget for the tax and the 10%.

**Appealing your own deemed assessment.** Unless you are disputing a published
LHDN position, s.99(4) shuts you out — the route is s.131 relief, on a five-year
clock, and it requires the tax to be paid first.

**Letting the tax agent sign Form Q.** PR 7/2020 para 7.4 prohibits it. The
agent can appear at the hearing; he cannot sign the notice.

**Emailing Form Q.** LHDN's own page says, in capitals, that submission by email
or electronic medium is not accepted.

**Ignoring a written proposal from LHDN.** Thirty days of silence under s.101(4)
is a settlement, not a holding position.

**Filing Form Q alone against a s.90(3) best-judgment assessment.** For a
company, s.99(1A) requires the outstanding return to go with it.

## What's next

If a notice of assessment has just landed, diary the 30 days from the date of
service, decide whether the dispute is about LHDN's assessment (Form Q) or your
own return (s.131 relief), and price the tax you will have to pay regardless.

If Form Q is already in, ask the branch for the acknowledgement letter and use
it to request a **PRP session** — the stage at which most disputes actually end.

If the finding came out of an audit, read
[surviving an LHDN tax audit](/en/taxation/tax-audit) alongside this page: the
s.113(2) penalty is often a bigger number than the tax in dispute, and it is
separately remittable under s.124(3).

## Sources

- Ketetapan Umum No. 7/2020 — Rayuan Terhadap Sesuatu Taksiran Dan Permohonan Relif — https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/KU_07_2020.pdf (LHDN)
- Rayuan — appeal procedure page — https://www.hasil.gov.my/rayuan/ (LHDN)
- Garis Panduan Prosiding Resolusi Pertikaian — https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/GP_PRP_03042019.pdf (LHDN)
- Borang Q — Notis Rayuan kepada Pesuruhjaya Khas Cukai Pendapatan, CP 14 Pin. 1/2025 — https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/cp-14-pin-1-2025-borang-q-acp.pdf (LHDN)
- Income Tax Act 1967 (Act 53), reprint as at 21 May 2024 — ss.99 to 106 and Schedule 5 — https://www.hasil.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/20240521-akta-cukai-pendapatan-1967-akta-53.pdf (LHDN)
- Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 (Act 169) — s.18 — https://lom.agc.gov.my/act-detail.php?act=169 (Attorney General's Chambers)
- Stamp Act 1949 (Act 378) — ss.38A and 39 — https://lom.agc.gov.my/act-detail.php?act=378 (Attorney General's Chambers)

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