Malaysia SST invoices

Malaysia’s Sales and Service Tax (SST) is two taxes: service tax on taxable services and sales tax on taxable goods, each with its own registration. This page sums up the rules that shape your invoices and shows how easySales applies them. It is a general guide, not tax advice; check with your accountant or the Royal Malaysian Customs Department before you rely on it.

The rules

Topic	Rule
Rates	Service tax 8%, with 6% for listed services (from 1 March 2024); sales tax 10%, 5% or a specific rate.
Registration	Service tax and sales tax are separate registrations.
Heading	No title is prescribed; the regulations list what the invoice must contain.
Contents	Issue the invoice in Malay or English, with the prescribed particulars, within one year from the date the service was provided. A serial number is required.
Foreign currency	The tax is accounted in MYR, at the selling rate.
When tax is due	Service tax: when payment is received. If it is still unpaid 12 months from the date the service was provided, it is due the next day. The Director General may approve service tax being due when the invoice is issued. Sales tax: on the sale.
Credit notes	A credit note cites the original invoice and the reason.
Deposits	A refundable deposit held as security is not subject to service tax and needs no e-invoice. Whether a forfeited deposit bears service tax depends on whether anything was supplied or made available; it may still need an e-invoice.
Bad debts	A refund of the tax paid, once the debt is written off and all reasonable efforts to recover it were made, claimed within 6 years of paying the tax.
Records	Keep records for 7 years.
E-invoicing	MyInvois, phased in; small businesses below the turnover threshold are exempt.

How easySales applies them

• Record each registration separately under System settings → Tax: service tax and sales tax are two kinds of registration, and Tax type follows from them. Your numbers print as “BRN” and “SST No.”. Documents issued before this label changed keep “SSM No.”, and a number you typed with “SSM” in front prints as you typed it. See Company and tax.
• The tax choices are None, Service Tax 8%, Service Tax 6%, Sales Tax 10% and Sales Tax 5%; Advanced tax codes adds SST exempt. A document can charge only the taxes your company is registered for on its date. easySales does not choose between 8% and 6%, or 10% and 5%: you choose the rate that fits each line.
• If the Director General approved service tax on the invoice basis, record it under Approvals held.
• With the invoice design’s title on Automatic (by tax registration), an issued invoice prints INVOICE, because Malaysia prescribes no title. See Letterhead and designs.
• A foreign-currency invoice that charges SST prints a For Malaysia SST Purpose Only block: the exchange rate to MYR and the total before SST, the SST and the total including SST in MYR. It prints when your company’s country is confirmed and you are registered for SST, at the invoice’s rate; a credit note converts at its invoice’s rate. A Word invoice design needs the exchange-lines placeholder for the block, and easySales warns you when it is missing.
• Registered for service tax only, a Prepayment gets a deposit tax invoice dated the day it arrived. With sales tax only, or the invoice-basis approval, it is held as the customer’s credit. Registered for both without that approval, a prepayment is refused: issue an invoice for the advance and record the payment against it. See Deposits and prepayments.
• Add the date MyInvois applies to your company under E-invoicing applies from (MyInvois). easySales does not submit to MyInvois; submit your e-invoices yourself.
• An issued invoice is corrected with a credit note, not changed in place. See Credit notes.
• A company registered for SST cannot forfeit a deposit in easySales, because the tax depends on the facts; agree the treatment with your accountant. A company that is not registered but has a MyInvois date is warned that the forfeiture needs an e-invoice. See Forfeit a deposit.
• Write off as bad debt… judges relief, registered for service tax only and without the invoice-basis approval, as Not yet until the day after 12 months from the invoice date, then Eligible, marked Advisory; easySales takes the invoice date as the date the service was provided. Registered for sales tax, relief is Eligible from the write-off date. No Claim by date is shown, because the date you paid the tax is not recorded. See Write off a bad debt.

Why it works this way

Service tax waits for the money. Service tax falls due when you are paid, not when you invoice. So money paid in advance carries the tax at once, and that is why a prepayment gets its own tax invoice the same day.

Relief refunds tax you have actually paid. On an unpaid invoice, service tax becomes due only after 12 months. Before then you have paid nothing on it, so there is nothing to refund; the panel says Not yet instead of a figure you cannot claim.

Only you know which rate applies. The 6% service tax covers listed services and the 5% sales tax listed goods. A wrong default would put the wrong tax on a customer’s invoice, so easySales leaves the choice to you on every line.

Two registrations, two checks. Because each tax has its own registration and dates, easySales checks each line against the registration that covers it on the document date.

Work faster

• Record both registrations with their dates. Then the forms offer exactly the taxes you may charge. See Company and tax.
• Set the tax on the draft. Choosing Service Tax 8% or Service Tax 6% as you add each line means the invoice is ready to issue. See Create an invoice.
• Check the MYR rate before issuing a foreign-currency invoice. The rate is fixed at issue and the MYR block prints at it. See Exchange rate.
• Download the bad-debt register for your SST return. It lists each write-off with its relief status. See Write off a bad debt.
• Export the period for your accountant. Accounting export downloads issued invoices and credit notes for Xero, QuickBooks Online or Excel. See Accounting export.

Examples

An invoice with service tax. Lim & Co’s Malaysian company is registered for service tax. It invoices Harbour Café MYR 5,000.00 for an interior design at Service Tax 8%: tax MYR 400.00, total MYR 5,400.00.

An invoice in Singapore dollars. The company bills a Singapore client SGD 1,000.00 at Service Tax 8%: tax SGD 80.00, total SGD 1,080.00. At a rate of 3.30, the For Malaysia SST Purpose Only block shows MYR 3,300.00 before SST, SST MYR 264.00 and MYR 3,564.00 in all (1,080.00 × 3.30).

A bad debt before the tax falls due. The MYR 5,400.00 invoice above, dated 10 January 2026, is still unpaid. Daniel Lim writes it off on 1 September 2026. The relief panel reads Not yet, claimable from 11 January 2027, the day after 12 months from the invoice date.

Common questions

• What is the service tax rate in Malaysia? 8% for most taxable services, and 6% for the services the law lists, from 1 March 2024.
• When is service tax due in Malaysia? When you are paid. If the invoice is still unpaid 12 months after the service was provided, the tax is due the next day, unless the Director General approved the invoice basis.
• Do I have to issue an invoice for service tax? Yes, in Malay or English with the prescribed particulars, within one year from the date the service was provided.
• Can one invoice charge service tax and sales tax? Yes, when your company is registered for both on the invoice date; each line takes the tax that fits it.
• Does easySales submit e-invoices to MyInvois? No. easySales records your MyInvois date; you submit the e-invoices yourself.
• How long must I keep SST records? For 7 years.

Sources

RMCD MySST — Service tax FAQ · RMCD MySST — Sales tax FAQ · RMCD MySST — Service Tax Act 2018 (PDF) · RMCD MySST — Service Tax (Amendment) Act 2019 (PDF) · LHDN — e-Invoice general FAQs (PDF) · LHDN — e-Invoice guideline (PDF)

Last checked: 2026-10-21

Related

• Country tax & invoice rules
• Company and tax
• Issue an invoice
• Deposits and prepayments