On 1 October 2026 the Ministry of Finance said the month's Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) credit had been loaded onto recipients' MyKads, as it has been every month since January. The routine announcement hides a date that matters more: 31 December 2026. That is when SARA 2026 ends, and the official FAQ is blunt about what happens to unspent credit. It expires automatically.
This guide is built on the official sources, read on 3 October 2026: the SARA 2026 FAQ issued by LHDN (HASiL) dated 9 February 2026, the Ministry of Finance's SARA for All FAQ dated 5 February 2026, the SARA purchasing guide, and the sara.gov.my portal. The 1 October figures come from the ministry's post that day, as reported by Media Selangor.
*Image: SARA (Ministry of Finance and Yayasan MyKasih), sara.gov.my.*
What SARA is
SARA is cashless aid for basic goods. It is credited to an account tied to your MyKad, and you spend it at the till of a participating shop by showing your MyKad. There is no separate card and no application. Eligibility comes from your Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) 2026 approval, and for the higher rate, from the government's eKasih poverty database.
How much you get each month
For STR 2026 recipients not on the eKasih poor or hardcore poor list:
- Household: RM100 a month, RM1,200 for the year
- Single (aged 21 to 59): RM50 a month, RM600 for the year
- Senior without a spouse: RM50 a month, RM600 for the year
For STR 2026 recipients who are on the eKasih poor or hardcore poor list:
- Household: RM200 a month, RM2,400 for the year
- Single: RM100 a month, RM1,200 for the year
- Senior without a spouse: RM150 a month, RM1,800 for the year
On top of that, every Malaysian citizen aged 18 and above received a one-off RM100 SARA for All on 9 February 2026, whether or not they receive STR. A couple with three adult children at home therefore received RM500 between them.
If your STR was approved in a later phase, the FAQ says SARA starts from the month of approval, not from January. Your total will be lower than the yearly figures above.
The 31 December rule
Two answers in the LHDN FAQ, read together, are the whole story:
- Unspent credit rolls over. The balance you do not use this month carries forward and can be used with next month's credit.
- It all expires on 31 December 2026. Any balance not used by the end of the programme lapses automatically. The SARA for All FAQ gives the same end date for the RM100.
Here is what that means in ringgit. A non-eKasih household that has not touched SARA since January already has about RM1,000 from ten monthly credits, plus RM100 for each adult from SARA for All. By December the household total reaches RM1,200 plus the RM100s. Spending that in the last 13 weeks of the year works out to roughly RM90 a week. A single person on RM50 a month who has never used it sits on about RM500 plus RM100.
Whether SARA continues in 2027 is not yet known. Budget 2027 is due to be tabled on 9 October 2026. Do not assume a 2026 balance will carry into a new programme; nothing official says it will.
What you can buy
SARA covers 15 approved categories, with more than 140,000 items labelled on the shelf price tag:
- Rice, eggs, bread, flour, cooking oil, biscuits and noodles
- Drinks, including milk, tea, coffee and infant formula
- Seasoning such as sauces, soy sauce, sugar and salt
- Canned food such as sardines and tuna
- Frozen food
- Personal care, including toothpaste, sanitary pads, soap and diapers
- Household cleaning products such as laundry and dishwashing detergent
- Over-the-counter medicines approved by the Ministry of Health
- School needs, including uniforms, shoes, school bags and stationery
That last category is the useful one for a year-end deadline. Uniforms, shoes and bags for the next school year are allowed SARA purchases, so a household with a balance does not have to fill the kitchen cupboard with rice to use it up.
Where to spend it
The FAQs name Mydin, Giant, Econsave, The Store, Pacific, Milimewa, 99 Speedmart and Lotus's among the partners, along with independent supermarkets and minimarts. The ministry's 1 October post put the number of outlets at more than 14,700; the sara.gov.my homepage still says more than 13,000. You are not limited to shops near your home. The live list is at checkstatus.mykasih.net/sara2/merchant-list and in the MyKasih app.
At the counter: pick labelled items, hand over your MyKad, let the cashier scan each item, confirm payment with your MyKad, and keep the receipt. Anything outside the 15 categories, and any amount above your balance, you pay yourself.
How to check your balance
- sara.gov.my, using your MyKad number
- The MyKasih app, which also shows nearby shops and eligible items
- Your last SARA receipt, which prints the balance before and after the purchase
Common problems
You replaced your MyKad. SARA checks the latest MyKad version on MyKasih's record. If you recently changed or lost your MyKad and purchases fail, call MyKasih so the record is updated and the old card version is frozen.
Your MyKad is lost or damaged. Call the MyKasih helpline. The FAQ allows a manual exemption for one purchase only; after that you need the new MyKad.
Someone else wants to shop for you. Payment must be made with the recipient's own MyKad, and the FAQ puts any purchase made by another person on the recipient's own responsibility. For household recipients who are in hospital, unwell, disabled or in an institution, the recipient can be switched to the citizen spouse registered in the STR application, with documents.
You think you should be on the list. There is no separate SARA appeal. SARA follows STR: if an STR 2026 appeal is approved, SARA starts from that month. The next eKasih data cut-off is 31 October 2026, with eligibility results and payment in November.
Contacts: MyKasih SARA helpline 03-7720 1800; LHDN STR line 1-800-88-2747; Ministry of Finance 03-8882 4565.
