LHDN Nudge Letter 2026: What It Means and What It Costs
38,906 taxpayers filed a return after HASiL nudged them, reporting RM3.5 billion of income and RM760.7 million of tax payable. That figure is from HASiL's own media statement dated 27 April 2026, and the word it uses for what those people received is not "audit".
HASiL calls it peringatan (nudging). It is a reminder asking you to declare voluntarily where its data suggests something is missing, and it is not audit action. That matters because of one clause: under RKA CPM 10.1.7, you stop being eligible to make a voluntary disclosure the moment audit action begins. Right now, for you, it has not.
What that window is worth is written down, and the honest version is less dramatic than most guides make it. Here is the whole rate card in one table.
| Your situation | Clause | Penalty on tax undercharged |
|---|---|---|
| Nudged, no audit action yet, you disclose | RKA CPM 10.1.8 | 15% |
| Further disclosure within 6 months of the return due date, after a first disclosure by amended return (BNT) | RKA CPM 10.1.8 | 10% |
| Audit action has started, first offence | s.113(2) via RKA CPM 10.1.1 and 10.1.3 | 15% |
| Audit action has started, second offence | s.113(2) via RKA CPM 10.1.1 | 30% |
| Audit action has started, third and subsequent offence | s.113(2) via RKA CPM 10.1.1 | 45% |
| Technical adjustment (genuine difference in interpreting the law) | RKA CPM 10.1.4 | 0% |
| Wilful incorrect reporting | s.113(2) via RKA CPM 10.1.6 | 100% |
| Tax still unpaid after the due date (charged on top, not instead) | s.103 | 10% |
Rates are HASiL's own, from the Rangka Kerja Audit Cukai Pendapatan dan Majikan, effective 15 March 2025, paragraph 10.1. Subsection 113(2) of the Income Tax Act 1967 permits a penalty equal to the whole tax undercharged; the framework rates sit under that ceiling, and subsection 124(3) lets the Director General reduce or remit further.
Not sure whether your letter is a nudge or the start of an audit? The distinction turns on one specific document, and our audit guide walks through the triggers, the three audit types and what HASiL asks for at each stage.
Read: what actually triggers an LHDN audit"Nudge Letter" Is Our Phrase, Not HASiL's
There is no LHDN form called a nudge letter. Searching MyTax for one will get you nowhere. The term comes from behavioural economics and from the UK's HMRC, and the Malaysian press picked it up because it is shorter than what HASiL writes.
What HASiL writes, in the 27 April 2026 statement, is that it detected non-compliance through e-Invois data checks and then issued peringatan (nudging) sebagai usaha menggalakkan pembayar cukai membuat pengakuan secara sukarela: a reminder as an effort to encourage taxpayers to make a voluntary declaration. That sentence is the whole design of the programme.
Two statements exist and the numbers moved a long way between them. On 30 July 2025 HASiL said 5,800 previously non-compliant taxpayers had come forward, reporting RM484 million of income for back years and RM82 million of additional tax. By 27 April 2026 the count was 38,906 taxpayers, RM3.5 billion of income and RM760.7 million of tax. Same mechanism, roughly seven times the people in nine months.
The practical consequence is that a nudge is not a hunch. It means a record filed by someone else, usually a business that invoiced you or that you invoiced, does not line up with what your return said. Arguing with the letter is rarely the useful move. Reconciling your own records against it is.
The Exact Moment the Cheap Door Closes
Paragraph 10.1.7 is two sentences long and it is the most important thing on this page. A concessionary penalty rate may be applied where the taxpayer makes a voluntary declaration. The taxpayer is not eligible to make a voluntary declaration once audit action has begun.
Which raises the obvious question, and the framework answers it. Paragraph 7.3 says audit action begins, for voluntary disclosure purposes, on the date of the Surat Memohon Dokumen dan Maklumat, the letter requesting documents and information, issued to the taxpayer by official email or by post in connection with an audit issue.
So there is a date, not a mood. Until that letter is issued to you, 10.1.8's rate is available. After it, you are on the 10.1.1 schedule and the count of prior offences starts to matter. If you already have a letter in hand and cannot tell which kind it is, the reference code and subject line are what identify it, and the Hasil Contact Centre on 03-8911 1000 will confirm it against your file.
One more honest caveat. Paragraph 10.1.3 defines how "first offence" is counted, and the window is fixed rather than rolling: it looks at section 113(2) penalties imposed on you between 1 January 2020 and 30 April 2022. Nothing in that window means every finding from 1 May 2022 onward is treated as a first offence at 15%.
What the Act Says About Returns You Never Filed
The penalty table above is about income understated. Returns never filed at all sit under a different section, and the numbers are shaped differently, so it is worth separating them.
| Provision | What it covers | What the Act provides |
|---|---|---|
| s.112(1) | Default in furnishing a return for one year of assessment, without reasonable excuse | On conviction, a fine of not less than RM 200 and not more than RM 20,000, or imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, or both |
| s.112(1A) | Default for two years of assessment or more | On conviction, a fine of not less than RM 1,000 and not more than RM 20,000, or up to 6 months, or both; and under s.112(1A)(b) a special penalty equal to treble the tax the Director General determines on that chargeable income |
| s.112(3)(a) | Same default, where no prosecution under 112(1) or (1A) has been instituted | The Director General may require a penalty equal to treble the amount of tax payable for that year |
| s.113(1) | Incorrect return by omitting or understating income, not made in good faith | On conviction, a fine of not less than RM 1,000 and not more than RM 10,000, and a special penalty of double the tax undercharged |
| s.113(2) | Same omission, where no prosecution under 113(1) has been instituted | The Director General may require a penalty equal to the tax undercharged, which is the 100% ceiling the RKA CPM rates sit beneath |
Quoted from the Income Tax Act 1967 (Act 53), sections 112 and 113. The "special penalty" wording in 112(1A)(b) and 113(1) attaches on conviction; 112(3) and 113(2) are the administrative routes the Director General uses where no prosecution is brought, and they are the ones almost every taxpayer actually meets.
If you have never filed and the number of years is frightening you, the structure above is the argument for acting rather than waiting: treble tax under 112(3) is the alternative to the 15% that 10.1.8 still offers while no audit action has started. Our breakdown of LHDN penalties works through the section 103 surcharge and the instalment position in more detail.
Borang B, YA 2025, and the Grace Period Almost Everyone Describes Wrongly
Both filing windows for YA 2025 are closed. We are writing this in September 2026, so nothing below is a countdown. It is the record of what the dates were, which is what you need in order to work out where you stand.
| Form | Who files it | Due date | e-Filing grace period |
|---|---|---|---|
| e-BE | Resident individual not carrying on a business | 30 April 2026 | 15 days, to 15 May 2026 |
| e-B | Resident individual carrying on a business, including freelancers | 30 June 2026 | 15 days, to 15 July 2026 |
Source: LHDNM, Return Form (RF) Filing Programme For The Year 2026, published 30 December 2025, updated 1 April 2026. Read first-party on hasil.gov.my, 19 September 2026.
The grace period does carry the tax payment with it. The programme's guide notes say the same grace applies to payment of the balance of tax under subsection 103(1), for returns furnished through e-Filing, with Form E, Form P and Form CPE excluded. So filing inside the grace window protects the payment date too. Filing outside it protects neither.
If you are trying to work out which form was yours in the first place, we have a side-by-side on Borang B versus Borang BE, which is the single most common filing error we see behind a mismatch.
📊 Get Your Income and Reliefs Into One Place with the Malaysia Tax Planner 2026
An Excel workbook, not advice. It tracks income by source and all 24 reliefs with the receipt you would need to evidence each one, plus a PCB reconciliation tab and a freelancer planner for Form B filers. If you are assembling records to answer a letter, this is the shape those records need to be in.
Get the Tax Planner — RM 42 one-timeWhat To Do, In Order
| Step | Action | Why this order |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read the letter for its reference code, the year of assessment, and what it actually asks for | A reminder and a Surat Memohon Dokumen dan Maklumat ask for different things and put you on different rates |
| 2 | Pull your records for that year: bank statements, invoices issued and received, platform payout reports, tenancy agreements, Form EA | A nudge comes from a mismatch against records someone else filed, so you are reconciling, not defending |
| 3 | Work out the actual shortfall before you contact anyone | The penalty is a percentage of tax undercharged, so the number decides how much this matters |
| 4 | File the missing return, or amend via Borang Nyata Terpinda, before any audit letter is issued | RKA CPM 10.1.7: eligibility for the disclosure rate ends when audit action begins |
| 5 | Pay the tax and the penalty, or ask about an instalment arrangement | The section 103 surcharge is charged on unpaid tax separately from the 113(2) penalty |
| 6 | Keep the submission acknowledgement, the payment receipt and all correspondence | Section 82 requires supporting records to be retained for 7 years, and this is the year you will be asked about |
Step 4 is the one people get wrong procedurally. An amendment after submission is not the same as a fresh filing, and the route depends on how long ago you filed. Our guide to amending your e-Filing covers the Borang Nyata Terpinda route and what to do when the amendment window has closed.
See the Borang Nyata Terpinda stepsOur Verdict
The rate argument is weak and we are not going to pretend otherwise: 15% either way for a first offence. The access argument is strong. Once the Surat Memohon Dokumen dan Maklumat is issued, the 10.1.8 route is gone, prior-offence counting under 10.1.3 starts to apply, and if the omission looks deliberate 10.1.6 puts 100% on the table.
Who should act immediately: anyone holding a reminder, anyone with unfiled years, and anyone who knows a payout never made it onto a return. Time is the only variable you still control.
Who can slow down: if your letter is a payment notice or an instalment notice rather than a query about undeclared income, this page is not about your letter. Identify the code first.
And the thing we cannot tell you: whether your specific adjustment is a technical adjustment under 10.1.4 and therefore 0%. That turns on the facts of the case. If real money is involved, a licensed tax agent earns their fee at exactly that question.
📋 Organise the Records Before You Answer the Letter
The Malaysia Tax Planner 2026 is a spreadsheet for laying out income by source and reliefs with their evidence, so the shortfall you report is one you can show your working for. It is a tool, not tax advice, and it does not file anything for you.
Download the Tax Planner — RM 42Frequently Asked Questions About LHDN Nudge Letters
Is an LHDN nudge letter the same as a tax audit?
No. HASiL's own wording for the programme is 'peringatan (nudging)', a reminder issued to encourage a voluntary declaration where its data suggests something was left out. For voluntary disclosure purposes, paragraph 7.3 of the Rangka Kerja Audit Cukai Pendapatan dan Majikan fixes the start of audit action at the date HASiL issues the Surat Memohon Dokumen dan Maklumat, a letter asking you for specific documents or information connected to an audit issue, sent by official email or post. Until that letter exists, paragraph 10.1.7 says voluntary disclosure is still open to you. Once it exists, it is not.
What does it cost to disclose after a nudge letter?
Under RKA CPM 10.1.8 the penalty for a voluntary disclosure is 15% of the tax undercharged. It drops to 10% in one narrow case: where your first disclosure went in as an amended return (Borang Nyata Terpinda) and a further disclosure follows within six months of the return's due date. An audit finding for a first offence is also 15% under 10.1.1, so for most people disclosure is not a cheaper rate. It is a door that shuts. The 10% late payment surcharge under section 103 is charged separately on tax left unpaid after the due date.
I have never filed with LHDN in 16 years of working. Can I start now?
Yes, and the back years are the part that carries the exposure. Section 112(1) of the Income Tax Act 1967 makes default in furnishing a return an offence carrying, on conviction, a fine of not less than two hundred ringgit and not more than twenty thousand ringgit or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both. Section 112(1A) covers default for two years or more: on conviction, a fine of not less than one thousand ringgit and not more than twenty thousand ringgit or up to six months or both, plus under 112(1A)(b) a special penalty equal to treble the tax the Director General determines on that chargeable income. Where no prosecution is instituted, section 112(3)(a) lets the Director General require a penalty equal to treble the tax payable instead. Filing before any audit action begins keeps you inside the voluntary disclosure rate rather than these.
What is a CP700 letter from LHDN?
We have not read a hasil.gov.my source defining CP700, so we are not going to tell you what it says. Guessing at the content of a numbered LHDN notice is how readers end up answering the wrong letter. Read the reference code and the subject line on your own letter, then call the Hasil Contact Centre on 03-8911 1000 and quote that code, or check the correspondence under your MyTax profile. What we can say with a source behind it is what a nudging reminder is and what the disclosure window is worth, which is the rest of this page.
When was the Borang B deadline for YA 2025, and what happens now it has passed?
LHDNM's Return Form Filing Programme for the Year 2026, published 30 December 2025, sets the due date for Form B for Year of Assessment 2025 at 30 June 2026, with a grace period until 15 July 2026 for e-Filing of Form e-B. The programme's own worked example is the part most guides skip: a taxpayer who furnished Form e-B on 16 July 2026 has the return treated as late from 1 July 2026, not from 16 July, with penalty imposed under section 112(3). Both dates are behind us. Filing now is late filing, and it is still better than not filing, because voluntary disclosure remains available until audit action starts.
I made an honest mistake. Does LHDN really penalise a first error?
It can. The only route to a 0% outcome written into the framework is RKA CPM 10.1.4, which removes the section 113(2) penalty where the audit finding is a technical adjustment, meaning a genuine difference in interpreting tax law decided on the facts of the case. An arithmetic slip or an income source left out is not a technical adjustment. What the framework does give a first-time case is the 15% rate rather than 30% or 45%: under 10.1.3, if no section 113(2) penalty was imposed on you between 1 January 2020 and 30 April 2022, findings from 1 May 2022 onward count as a first offence. Under subsection 124(3) the Director General may also reduce or remit a penalty.
How does HASiL know about income I did not report?
Its two published statements on the programme both name the same source: e-Invois data. The 30 July 2025 statement says HASiL has been receiving information on individuals and companies carrying out business transactions since 1 August 2024 and monitors validated MyInvois data. The 27 April 2026 statement says non-compliance was detected through e-Invois data checks and reminders were then issued. Those statements also record roughly 413 million e-Invois issued as at 30 July 2025 and 225,604 taxpayers participating since 1 August 2024. This is matching against records other parties file, not a tip-off.
Last updated: September 2026. Penalty rates read from the Rangka Kerja Audit Cukai Pendapatan dan Majikan (effective 15 March 2025); statutory wording from the Income Tax Act 1967 (Act 53); programme figures from HASiL media statements dated 30 July 2025 and 27 April 2026; filing dates from LHDNM's Return Form (RF) Filing Programme For The Year 2026, read on hasil.gov.my on 19 September 2026.