Malaysia HRD Corp Levy: How Employer Training Claims Work

Malaysia funds employer training by taking a levy and giving it back. For employers in scope the money is already paid, sitting in a training account, and the practical question is only whether a given programme can be claimed against it. For a training provider, the question is different and harder: whether you can be the one invoicing. Our CPD course library sets out what is available and how it is certified.

How the levy works

The scheme runs under the Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Berhad Act 2001, administered by HRD Corp, formerly HRDF. Registered employers pay a levy calculated as a percentage of monthly payroll, and draw it back against approved training.

Registration is mandatory rather than optional for employers in scope. That currently covers manufacturing, services and mining and quarrying above an employee threshold, with agriculture, construction, government and statutory bodies and non-profit organisations outside the scheme. The services category is broad, and takes in professional services, finance, IT, healthcare, education, logistics and hospitality, which is why so many Malaysian finance teams have a training allocation they are not fully using.

The claim process, and the deadlines that catch people

Claims are made through HRD Corp's e-TRiS portal, and the sequence matters more than the paperwork.

The application must be submitted before the training starts. This is the single most common reason a claim fails: an employer runs a course, likes it, and then discovers that retrospective applications are not entertained. After delivery, the claim is filed within a defined window, and each participant must meet a minimum attendance threshold for their place to be claimable.

Training must be delivered by an HRD Corp registered training provider. That is a status, not a formality, and it is the gate an overseas provider runs into.

What a provider has to do to register

HRD Corp registration expects a Malaysian-registered entity, through the Companies Commission of Malaysia or the Registry of Societies, together with a registration fee and additional fees for branches. There is a separate certification route for individual trainers, which involves submitting a trainer profile for qualification review, completing a Train-the-Trainer programme and passing a practical assessment, with the resulting certificate valid for a fixed period.

An overseas provider without a Malaysian entity therefore cannot register directly. The route that exists is the same one that opens several other national schemes: work with a registered Malaysian training provider who holds the status, lists the course, and invoices the employer. That provider is the claimant's counterparty, and the commercial terms between you and them are a private matter rather than a regulatory one.

The question an online provider needs answered first

Whether e-learning and live virtual delivery are claimable, and on what terms, is the question that decides whether this channel is worth pursuing at all for an online-first provider. Commercial summaries published by Malaysian training companies indicate that e-learning is claimable subject to conditions around platform tracking, assessment and certification, and that overseas trainers delivering virtually can be accommodated where the provider is registered and the trainer's profile is submitted.

Those summaries are published by companies selling the courses they describe, and the claimable amounts differ by delivery mode and are revised periodically. Confirm the current position and the applicable caps directly with HRD Corp before building a Malaysian offer around virtual delivery. We have deliberately not reproduced the rate tables here, because an out-of-date cap is worse than no number at all.

What this means in practice

Malaysia is one of the larger ACCA markets, and the levy means the training budget exists without anyone having to argue for it. Those two facts make it attractive. The entity requirement means it is a partner-sourcing exercise rather than an application exercise, which is a different kind of work and a slower one.

The structure mirrors other partner-of-record schemes. Where Malta's Investing in Skills lets an employer apply with an overseas provider simply invoicing, Malaysia requires the provider itself to hold local status, so the partner is doing more than paperwork.

Frequently asked questions

Can an employer claim for training it has already run?

No. The application must be approved before training begins, and this is the most frequent cause of rejected claims.

Does the employer or the provider make the claim?

The employer claims against its own levy account through e-TRiS. The provider must hold HRD Corp registration for the training to be claimable, but it is not the claimant.

Can an Irish or UK provider register with HRD Corp directly?

Not without a Malaysian registered entity. The practical route is a partnership with a registered Malaysian provider.

Is the levy refunded if it is not used?

No. Levy contributions sit in the employer's training account for claims against approved training, so an employer that does not train is simply paying a payroll charge it never recovers.