Calculator
HRD Corp levy calculator — Malaysia
Put in your headcount and average wage. It works out what you pay each month, what two years of it comes to, how much of that the forfeiture rule puts at risk, and how much training the balance actually buys.
The levy ledger
What your company already contributes, what this costs, and what is at risk if nobody claims.
Your monthly levy
RM3,000
1% of monthly wages — compulsory
This training would cost
RM15,000–RM24,000
About RM750–RM1,200 per person at 20 people
At risk of forfeiture
RM62,000
Two years of contributions above the RM10,000 floor, if no claim is made
At your contribution rate, this training costs roughly 8.0 months of levy — money already leaving the payroll every month whether it is used or not.
Send it to whoever signs
The numbers above, written as an email. Edit it, then forward it.
An estimate, not advice. Levy rates and the forfeiture rule are HRD Corp’s, read 10 September 2026; your actual balance depends on your claim history and on the statutory definition of wages. Confirm your position with HRD Corp.
How the levy is worked out
The levy is a percentage of monthly wages, not a flat fee, and the percentage depends on how many Malaysian employees you have. At ten or more it is compulsory, at 1% of monthly wages. At five to nine it is optional, and if you register the rate is 0.5%. Below five it does not apply.
Since 1 March 2021 the PSMB Act covers all industries, with federal government, state government, local councils and statutory bodies excluded, along with NGOs doing social welfare work. So a company pays; a ministry or a statutory body does not, and therefore has nothing to claim against.
The calculation above uses basic salary plus fixed allowances as the wage base, which is the usual reading. “Wages” has a statutory definition that we are not going to restate from memory, and your payroll system already applies it — so treat the figure as an estimate for planning, and your HRD Corp portal balance as the number of record.
What the balance actually buys
A levy balance is only useful once it becomes training, and the conversion is worth doing before the year gets away from you. In-house training is priced per training day rather than per person, so the cost of a course does not move when you add people to the room — which is why cost per head falls as the group grows.
A claim has to be approved before the training takes place, not after. That is the single most common reason a balance discovered late cannot be used properly: the money is there, the calendar is not.
Questions
›How is the HRD Corp levy calculated?
It is a percentage of monthly wages. Employers with ten or more Malaysian employees pay 1% of monthly wages; employers with five to nine may register optionally and pay 0.5%.
The wage base is normally basic salary plus fixed allowances. Your payroll system applies the statutory definition — the calculator above is for planning, not for filing.
›When is the levy payment due?
The levy is a monthly contribution and is paid through the HRD Corp employer portal. Your finance or payroll function will already have the schedule, because it runs alongside the other statutory monthly deductions.
Confirm current deadlines with HRD Corp rather than a third-party summary — late payment is one of the few parts of this scheme that carries a direct penalty.
›How do I check my HRD Corp levy balance?
It is shown in your HRD Corp employer portal, and your HRD Corp officer can confirm both the balance and your forfeiture position.
Worth checking when you plan the training year rather than at the end of it. A grant application has to be approved before the training runs, so a balance discovered in the last fortnight is often already too late to use.
›When is unutilised levy forfeited?
After two years. The window was shortened from five years to two with effect from 1 January 2020, and there is no route to reclaim a forfeited balance afterwards.
A balance under RM10,000 is exempt, and RM10,000 stays in the account after a forfeiture takes place — so the exposure is the amount above that floor.
›Who is exempt from paying the levy?
Employers with fewer than five Malaysian employees are outside the scheme. Employers with five to nine may choose to register at 0.5% but are not obliged to.
Federal government, state government, local councils and statutory bodies are excluded from the PSMB Act, as are NGOs engaged in social welfare activity. A government-linked company incorporated under the Companies Act is not excluded — it is an ordinary levy-paying employer, because legal form decides it rather than ownership.
›Can the levy cover the whole cost of a course?
It can, where the provider and the specific course are registered with HRD Corp, the grant is approved before delivery, and your balance covers the claimable amount. What is claimable varies by scheme and by cost item.
We tell you what is claimable and what is not during scoping, rather than after the invoice.
›Is in-house training claimable, or only public courses?
In-house delivery is one of the most commonly claimed formats in Malaysia. The format is not what decides it — provider registration, course registration and pre-approval are.
Because in-house is priced per training day rather than per seat, a levy balance usually converts into far more training hours across a team than the same amount spent on individual seats.
Get a scoped quote
Tell us your team size, timeframe and whether you pay the HRD Corp levy. Within one working day you get a day rate, a suggested course shape and how to claim it through HRD Corp.