Form E and CP8D: the employer's annual return to LHDN
Three documents get confused every January, and they are not interchangeable. Form EA goes to your employee. Form E goes to LHDN. CP8D is the employee-by-employee data file that travels with Form E. Miss Form E entirely — which dormant companies do constantly, on the assumption that no employees means no return — and the exposure is a fine of up to RM20,000 under section 120, quite separate from anything owed in tax. Here is what each one is, who has to file, and when.
Form E, CP8D and Form EA are three different things
The practical relationship: CP8D is the aggregate of every Form EA you issued, in the format LHDN can read by machine. That is why the two must reconcile — LHDN matches CP8D data against what each employee declares in their own return, and a mismatch surfaces as a query on the employee's file, not yours.
| Form EA | Form E | CP8D | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goes to | Each employee | LHDN | LHDN, with Form E |
| What it is | That employee's statement of remuneration for the year | The employer's own return — headcount and total remuneration | A line per employee: pay, EPF, PCB, benefits, tax reference |
| Deadline | Last day of February | 31 March | Same submission as Form E |
| Filed where | Handed or emailed to the employee; not sent to LHDN | e-E on MyTax | Uploaded in the e-E submission (txt/xlsx) or keyed in |
| Authority | s.83(1A) ITA 1967 | s.83(1) ITA 1967 | Prescribed with the s.83(1) return |
Who has to file Form E
A dormant company still files, and files a nil return if there were genuinely no employees. Note also that a director drawing a director's fee is an employee for this purpose, so 'we only pay the two directors' is not an exemption — those two belong in CP8D.
Section 83(1B) requires an employer that is a company to furnish the return electronically. For companies there is no paper option; the return is the e-E form on MyTax.
- Every company — Sdn Bhd, Berhad — without exception, including a company that is dormant and has never paid a salary. This is the single most common miss.
- Limited liability partnerships, trust bodies and co-operative societies.
- Sole proprietorships and partnerships, but only if they had employees during the year.
- Associations, societies and other organisations that paid remuneration.
The deadlines, and the grace period that is not in the statute
LHDN customarily allows a short administrative grace period for e-Filed returns — in recent years to 30 April for e-E. It is announced each year in the filing programme and it is a concession, not an entitlement: it can be withdrawn, and it does not move the statutory 31 March date. Plan to the 31st.
Manual CP39 forms have not been accepted since 1 September 2019. Monthly PCB is submitted through e-PCB, e-Data PCB or e-CP39 on the LHDN portal, and paid by the 15th. Late remittance is a separate offence from late filing.
| Obligation | Form | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Give each employee their statement of remuneration | EA / EC | On or before the last day of February |
| Employer's annual return + employee particulars | E + CP8D | On or before 31 March |
| Notify LHDN of a new employee | CP22 | Within 30 days of commencement |
| Notify LHDN before an employee leaves or leaves Malaysia | CP21 / CP22A | Not less than 30 days before cessation or departure |
| Remit the month's PCB and submit the schedule | CP39 (e-PCB / e-CP39) | By the 15th of the following month |
What goes into CP8D
CP8D is submitted as part of the e-E flow — keyed in for a handful of employees, or uploaded as a text or spreadsheet file generated by your payroll system for anything larger. The format specification changes from year to year, so regenerate the file from an updated payroll system rather than reusing last year's template.
- Employee name, identity card or passport number, and income tax reference number. Missing TINs are the usual cause of a rejected upload — register the employee rather than leaving the field blank.
- Gross remuneration: salary, wages, director's fees, commission, bonus, gratuity, allowances.
- Benefits in kind and value of living accommodation, which are taxable to the employee and routinely omitted.
- EPF and other approved fund contributions, and the SOCSO deducted.
- Total PCB deducted and remitted for the year, plus any zakat paid via monthly deduction.
- Deductions and reliefs the employee claimed through a TP1, and prior employment income declared on a TP3 if they joined mid-year.
- Tax-exempt allowances and perquisites, listed separately so they are not taxed twice.
Penalties
- Failure to furnish Form E is an offence under section 120(1)(b): a fine of RM200 to RM20,000, imprisonment up to six months, or both. It applies per year not filed, and it is not reduced because the company was dormant.
- Failure to deduct or remit PCB is an offence under section 113 read with the MTD Rules, and unremitted PCB becomes a debt due from the employer — the employer pays it, then recovers from the employee, which in practice often means it cannot be recovered at all.
- Failure to give an employee their Form EA by the end of February is likewise an offence under section 120(1)(b).
- Failure to notify cessation under CP21/CP22A can make the employer liable for the departing employee's unsettled tax. See the tax clearance guide for how the withholding of final pay works.
A short January-to-March sequence that works
- December: reconcile the year's payroll — total gross, EPF, SOCSO, PCB remitted — against the twelve CP39 submissions you actually made. Fix gaps before anything is issued.
- January: confirm every employee has a tax reference number, including those who joined late in the year.
- By end-February: issue Form EA to every person employed at any point during the year, including leavers. A leaver's EA covers only their months with you.
- March: file e-E with CP8D on MyTax. Keep the acknowledgement — it is the only proof of filing that matters later.
- Retain payroll records for seven years under section 82, two years longer than the ordinary five-year assessment window.
Caveats
Deadlines, grace periods, the CP8D file layout and the e-Filing screens are administrative and are revised most years; confirm the current filing programme on hasil.gov.my before you submit. Employers with foreign employees, expatriates on secondment, or staff under a tax-equalisation arrangement have additional reporting that this guide does not cover.
This is general information, not tax advice. If several years of Form E were never filed, deal with it through a tax agent as a voluntary disclosure rather than quietly filing the current year and hoping the earlier ones are not noticed — unfiled years never become time-barred.
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Last reviewed: 2026-10-06