Key takeaways
- Life insurance or family takaful premiums for yourself and your spouse give up to RM3,000 relief, inside a RM7,000 limit shared with EPF (RM4,000).
- Education and medical insurance premiums for yourself, your spouse and your children give up to RM4,000 relief for YA 2025 and YA 2026.
- From YA 2026, life insurance on eligible children also counts towards the RM3,000: unmarried and under 18, unmarried in tertiary education, or an unmarried disabled child.
- SOCSO and EIS contributions give up to RM350 relief; premiums you pay for your parents' insurance do not qualify.
- On RM60,000 of chargeable income, RM9,700 of these reliefs cuts the tax from about RM2,600 to RM1,533, a saving of about RM1,067 (labelled example).
How each relief is capped
The limits come from LHDN's explanatory notes for YA 2025 and the Budget 2026 changes in its PCB 2026 specification.
| Relief | Whose policies | YA 2025 | YA 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life insurance or family takaful, plus additional voluntary EPF | You and your spouse; from YA 2026 also eligible children | RM3,000 | RM3,000 |
| EPF or approved scheme | Your own contributions | RM4,000 | RM4,000 |
| Education and medical insurance | You, your spouse, your children | RM4,000 | RM4,000 |
| SOCSO and EIS | Your own contributions | RM350 | RM350 |
The first two share a RM7,000 limit. If your compulsory EPF already exceeds RM4,000, extra voluntary EPF can only use whatever room the life insurance premiums leave in the RM3,000. Eligible children for YA 2026 are unmarried and under 18, unmarried and in tertiary education at 18 or above, or unmarried and disabled at any age.
Which premiums count as medical insurance
- The policy must pay for medical treatment from illness, accident or disability, and run for at least 12 months.
- A stand-alone medical card counts in full. For a medical rider on a life or investment-linked policy, only the rider premium counts.
- A critical illness rider counts in full; a critical illness cover packaged with term life or personal accident counts at 60% of the package premium.
- A company group medical plan counts if you pay part of the premium yourself.
- Waiver of premium riders and travel insurance do not count.
Your insurer's yearly premium paid statement usually splits these amounts for you. My insurance tax relief guide explains each rule and how to key the figures into e-Filing.
A worked example
Example only, with assumptions labelled: a private sector employee, separate assessment, chargeable income of RM60,000 before these reliefs.
| Item | Paid | Relief |
|---|---|---|
| Life insurance on self | RM2,400 | RM2,400 |
| Compulsory EPF | RM6,600 | RM4,000 |
| Medical card and education policy | RM3,000 | RM3,000 |
| SOCSO and EIS | RM300 | RM300 |
| Total | RM9,700 |
Tax on RM60,000 is RM2,600 (RM1,500 on the first RM50,000 and 11% on the next RM10,000). Tax on RM50,300 is about RM1,533. These reliefs save about RM1,067. The higher your income band, the more each ringgit of relief is worth.
Where to find the amounts
- Insurance: the premium paid statement from each insurer. Great Eastern policyholders can download it on e-Connect, where it is kept for 5 years; see the Great Eastern app guide.
- EPF: your EPF statement or the yearly total on your EA form.
- SOCSO and EIS: your payslips or the EA form.
The calculator leaves out other reliefs, joint assessment and rebates other than the RM400 one. For the full list of YA 2026 reliefs, see the tax relief 2026 guide. This is general information, not tax advice.