By late October most people who filed their 2025 income tax return in April or May have had their refund for months. LHDN told taxpayers in March 2026 that YA2025 refunds would be credited in stages from the second week of March, and e-Filing had opened on 1 March. If your money still has not arrived, something specific is holding it, and you can usually find out what from your own MyTax account.
This guide is built from LHDN's own pages, read on 28 October 2026: the overpaid-tax page on hasil.gov.my (last updated 13 May 2026) and the scam-alert page (updated 22 October 2026). It also draws on an LHDN officer's explanation of refunds on Bernama Radio, reported by The Star on 12 August 2025, and on the Deputy Finance Minister's answer in the Dewan Negara on 16 December 2025, reported by RTM.
Why you are owed money at all
A refund simply means you paid more tax during the year than you finally owed. For most salaried workers it happens because the monthly deductions from your pay (PCB) were higher than your real tax once your reliefs were counted. It also happens to self-employed people whose CP500 instalments were set on an estimate that turned out too high.
LHDN works this out from your return. You do not apply for a refund separately. When you submit your BE or B form, the system calculates your tax and tells you whether you are due one. In the words of the LHDN officer on Bernama Radio, a refund is a compliant taxpayer's right, not a bonus.
How long LHDN says it takes
LHDN's client charter, printed on its overpaid-tax page, sets two targets:
- 30 working days after you submit, if you filed through e-Filing
- 90 working days after you submit, if you posted the form or handed it in at a counter
Thirty working days is roughly six calendar weeks, more if a public holiday falls in between. Both targets apply only if your return is correct and complete, and if you send supporting documents when LHDN asks for them. If nothing has happened after that, LHDN's instruction is to contact the HASiL office that handles your tax file.
The three usual reasons a refund stalls
The same LHDN officer listed what holds refunds up most often.
Your bank account. Refunds go by electronic transfer to the bank account in your LHDN record, or through DuitNow linked to your MyKad or passport number, or as a cheque posted to your address. If the account number is incomplete, the account has gone dormant, or it is not in your own name, the payment stops for checks. That includes a spouse's or parent's account entered on your return.
Old tax you still owe. Any refund is first set against unpaid tax from earlier years. A 2025 refund will be reduced, or swallowed entirely, by an unpaid 2023 balance. Many people only discover the old debt this way.
Your return is being checked. If your relief claims or declared income need verifying, LHDN may ask for receipts and the clock effectively pauses until you reply.
What to do, in order
- Log in to MyTax (mytax.hasil.gov.my) and check the refund status for the year of assessment.
- Check your bank details through e-Kemaskini in MyTax. The account must be active and in your name.
- Open e-Lejar to see whether an older year has an unpaid balance that took your refund.
- If the charter period has passed and none of this explains it, contact the HASiL office handling your file. The HASiL Contact Centre is 03-8911 1000, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and there is a live chat, HAFY TaxAssist, on the LHDN site.
If the taxpayer has died, the refund is not lost. Heirs, executors or estate administrators can claim it with a certified copy of the letters of administration, certified by a Commissioner for Oaths, a magistrate or a Category A government officer.
The 2% compensation for late refunds
Section 111D of the Income Tax Act 1967 makes LHDN pay 2% a year on a refund it pays late. Under LHDN's guideline, the count starts 90 days after the deadline for an e-Filed return, or 120 days after for a paper one. It runs from the deadline, not from the day you filed. For a BE form due on 30 April, 90 days later is about the end of July.
There are conditions. You must have filed on time and in full. LHDN's 2014 guideline and its May 2021 update, as summarised by EY, exclude people who asked for more time to file and some cases raised after an audit.
Keep expectations realistic. At 2% a year, a RM1,500 refund paid 100 days late earns about RM8.22. The real value of the rule is that it puts a date on LHDN's obligation. Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying told the Dewan Negara on 16 December 2025 that LHDN had paid RM14.55 billion of refunds in 3.47 million cases up to 30 November 2025, up from RM12.39 billion in 2.71 million cases a year earlier. She said that taxpayers who qualified for compensation but had not received it should contact LHDN for a review.
Do not get caught by a refund scam
LHDN's scam-alert page, updated on 22 October 2026, lists fake emails offering a tax refund that ask you to click a link and fill in your banking details. LHDN does not need you to do that, because the refund goes to the account already on your record. Official email comes from an @hasil.gov.my address. If in doubt, check through the Contact Centre or a HASiL office, never through a link in the message.
