{"id":71322,"date":"2026-09-26T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T03:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/?p=71322"},"modified":"2026-09-25T13:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T05:23:14","slug":"work-from-home-tax-deduction-malaysia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imoney.my\/articles\/work-from-home-tax-deduction-malaysia","title":{"rendered":"Working from home: what you can and cannot claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>The distinction that decides everything<\/span><\/h2>\n

Malaysian income tax draws a hard line between employment income<\/strong> and business income<\/strong>, and the treatment of expenses sits on opposite sides of it.<\/p>\n

Employees<\/strong> are taxed on employment income under Section 13. Deductions against it are narrow: essentially the personal reliefs on the return, lifestyle, medical, education and the rest. Section 39(1)(a) of the Act<\/a> bars any deduction for domestic or private expenses, and the running costs of your home are treated as exactly that. There is no home-office relief in the return. An employee who works from home three days a week and pays more for electricity and internet cannot deduct that difference. The reliefs are the only route, and there is no home office relief.<\/p>\n

Self-employed<\/strong> taxpayers, freelancers, sole proprietors, anyone with business income under Section 4(a), are taxed on profit. Expenses wholly and exclusively incurred in producing that income are deductible under Section 33, and a home office used for the business qualifies, apportioned<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So the same electricity bill is deductible for the freelancer and not for the employee at the next desk.<\/p>\n

<\/span>What apportionment means in practice<\/span><\/h2>\n

A self-employed person cannot deduct the whole household electricity bill because the whole household is not the business. The deductible share is the business proportion, and the proportion needs a basis.<\/p>\n

Two bases are commonly used:<\/p>\n

Floor area.<\/strong> If the room used as an office is 12 square metres in a 90 square metre apartment, the business share is 13%. That percentage applies to rent, utilities, and building-related costs.<\/p>\n

Time and use.<\/strong> Where a space is shared, a dining table used as a desk during working hours, a time-based apportionment can be argued, but it is weaker and more likely to be questioned.<\/p>\n

Whichever basis is used, it should be documented once and applied consistently. A reviewer needs to be able to follow the arithmetic.<\/p>\n

<\/span>What a self-employed person can typically apportion<\/span><\/h2>\n