RPGT Filing in Malaysia: CKHT Forms, the 60-Day Deadline & the 3% Retention

The 60-day clock starts at the SPA date

The date of disposal is normally the date the sale and purchase agreement is signed — not the date the title transfers or the date you receive the money. Everything is measured from there: the holding period that sets your rate, and the 60 days both parties have to file. Where the sale is conditional on approval by the Government or a State Authority (for example a consent-to-transfer condition on the title), the date of disposal is instead the date that approval is obtained.

Sixty days is short. In practice your conveyancing solicitor prepares and submits the forms, but the legal obligation sits with you as the disposer, so confirm early who is filing and that they have your acquisition documents.

Which CKHT form is whose

There are four forms in the set, and the two sides of the transaction file different ones:

• CKHT 1A — filed by the disposer (seller) for a disposal of real property. This is where you declare the disposal price, the acquisition price, your permitted expenses and any exemption you are electing.
• CKHT 1B — the equivalent return for disposing of shares in a real property company (RPC).
• CKHT 2A — filed by the acquirer (buyer). Yes, the buyer files too, even though the buyer pays no RPGT; the return records the acquisition and supports the retention.
• CKHT 3 — a notification by the disposer that the disposal is exempt or gives rise to no chargeable gain. Handed to the buyer, it releases them from making the retention.
• CKHT 502 — the payment slip used to remit the retention sum to LHDN.

Where to file and what to attach

Returns can be filed on paper at the LHDN branch that handles the file, or electronically through e-CKHT on the MyTax portal (mytax.hasil.gov.my). Attach the supporting documents: both SPAs — the one you bought under and the one you are selling under — plus the stamp duty and legal fee receipts from your purchase, agent commission invoices, and receipts for any renovation you are claiming as enhancement cost.

Every deduction you want to take off the gain has to be evidenced here. A cost you cannot document is a cost LHDN will not allow, and there is no second chance to produce it once the assessment is raised.

The retention: 3% for citizens, 7% for foreigners

Under the RPGT Act the acquirer must retain part of the purchase consideration and remit it to LHDN within 60 days as an advance against the seller's RPGT. The amount retained is the lower of the whole of the money consideration or 3% of the total consideration where the disposer is a Malaysian citizen or permanent resident. Where the disposer is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident — including a company not incorporated in Malaysia — the retention is 7%.

This is a retention, not the tax itself. If your actual RPGT comes to less than the amount retained, the excess is refunded after LHDN raises the assessment; if it comes to more, you pay the balance. Either way the money leaves your proceeds at completion, so budget for the shortfall in cash rather than assuming the retention covers you.

CKHT 3: how to stop the retention when nothing is payable

If your disposal genuinely produces no tax — you are a citizen selling in the sixth year or later at a 0% rate, you are electing the once-in-a-lifetime private residence exemption, the transfer is a no-gain-no-loss transfer between spouses or from parent to child, or you made a loss — you can complete CKHT 3 and give it to the buyer within the 60 days. On receiving it the acquirer does not have to make the retention, and your full proceeds are released.

Two practical points. First, CKHT 3 does not replace your own return: you still file the CKHT 1A. Second, the once-in-a-lifetime private residence exemption has to be elected in the form — it is not applied automatically, and once used it cannot be used again, so it is worth saving for the disposal with the largest gain.

Assessment, payment and penalties

After the returns are processed LHDN raises an assessment (or confirms that no tax is chargeable) and any balance of tax is payable within 30 days of the notice. Late payment of the balance attracts a 10% increase on the outstanding amount.

The deadlines on the front end have teeth too. If the acquirer fails to remit the retention within 60 days, a 10% increase is imposed on the retention sum — and because that liability lands on the buyer, buyers' solicitors are strict about holding the money back. Failing to file a return on time is itself an offence under the RPGT Act and can attract a penalty assessed on the tax. If you cannot locate a document in time, file on the information you have and amend, rather than missing the date.

Keep your purchase file from day one

The single most common reason sellers overpay RPGT is that they cannot evidence what the property cost them. Your acquisition price includes the incidental costs of buying — legal fees, transfer stamp duty, agent commission — and enhancement expenditure on renovations that is still reflected in the property's value, but every one of those needs a receipt. Keep the original SPA, the solicitor's bill, the stamp certificate and renovation invoices in one place for as long as you own the property; a missing RM20,000 of documented cost is roughly RM4,000 of extra tax at the 20% rate.

Important caveats

This guide describes the standard filing mechanics for a disposal of Malaysian real property and is general information, not legal or tax advice. Retention percentages, penalty rates, form versions and the e-CKHT process are set by the Real Property Gains Tax Act 1976 and LHDN practice and have changed at several recent Budgets. Confirm the current position with LHDN (hasil.gov.my) or your conveyancing solicitor before you rely on it. Use the calculator below to estimate the tax itself, then work out whether the 3% or 7% retention will cover it.