Country fileMYMYRVerified 2026-09-20
MY
Employer of Record in Malaysia: what one employee really costs
Malaysia, Asia. One software engineer at $30,000 gross per year, priced through 12 providers with a published fee, on the ECB reference rates of 18 Sept 2026. Change the salary and headcount below.
- Employer on-cost
- +14.1%
- statutory charges on top of gross
- All-in per month
- $3,053 – $3,553
- salary + charges + published fee, cheapest to dearest listed provider
- Onboarding through an EOR
- 1–5 days
- per Deel - How to Hire Using an Employer of Record (EOR) in Malaysia (2026)
Hiring one software engineer in Malaysia at $30,000 gross a year costs about $354 a month in statutory employer charges (+14.1%), plus an EOR fee of $199 to $699 per month depending on the provider: $3,053 to $3,553 all-in, before deposits, FX margins and add-ons. Prices checked 2–24 Sept 2026.
Disclosure Some provider links on this page are affiliate links: if you become a customer after clicking, the provider may pay us a referral fee. It never changes the price you pay, and it never changes the numbers on this page, which come from official sources and are dated. How we are paid
Cost engine · preset to Malaysia
Price your own hire, line by line.
employee inatgross / year
≈ MYR 122,416 gross / year · MYR at ECB reference rate, 18 Sept 2026
| Per employee | Rate | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Gross salary | $2,500 | |
| EPF employer contribution (monthly wages above MYR 5,000) | 12% | $300 |
| EPF employer contribution (monthly wages of MYR 5,000 or less) n/a | — | — |
| SOCSO, First Category (Employment Injury and Invalidity) capped | 1.75% | $26 |
| Employment Insurance System (EIS/SIP) capped | 0.20% | $3 |
| HRD Corp levy (human resources development) | 1% | $25 |
| Employer on-cost | +14.1% | $354 |
| Cost of employment, before EOR fee | $2,854 |
RemoFirstLowest total
$3,053/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $199
- Per year
- $36,632
- Fee share
- 6.5%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a RemoFirst quotePapaya Global
$3,353/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $499
- Per year
- $40,232
- Fee share
- 14.9%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Papaya quoteDeel
$3,453/ month · 1 employee
- Fee / mo
- from $599
- Per year
- $41,432
- Fee share
- 17.3%
Checked 2 Sept 2026
Get a Deel quoteEmployer charges from official sources; provider fees are list prices on the dates shown; deposits, FX margins and add-ons are not included. Not legal or tax advice. Methodology
14 providers, one scenario, all-in totals.
| Provider | EOR fee / employee / mo | All-in / mo, 1 hire | Deposit | Countries | Checked | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RemoFirst EOR in 185+ countries from $199 per employee per month, no annual contract. | from $199 | $3,053 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from RemoFirst· $3,053/mo |
| Rivermate EOR in 180+ countries from $319 to $639 per employee per month. | from $319 | $3,173 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rivermate· $3,173/mo |
| Pebl Velocity Global, renamed Pebl in 2026. Prints $399 per employee per month. | from $399 | $3,253 | Not stated on the pricing page | 185+ | 22 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Pebl· $3,253/mo |
| Playroll EOR in 180+ countries from $399 per employee per month; deposit of one month's salary. | from $399 | $3,253 | Fully refundable security deposit equivalent to one month's salary when onboarding an employee (pricing page). | 180+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Playroll· $3,253/mo |
| Multiplier EOR from $459 (annual) or $499 (monthly) per employee, plus mandated add-ons. | from $499 $459 billed annually | $3,353 | Refundable security deposit required per employee by the EOR terms (effective 1 June 2026), sized by Multiplier; not on the pricing page. | 150+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Multiplier· $3,353/mo |
| Papaya Global EOR starting from $499 per employee per month, quote-based, 160+ countries. | from $499 | $3,353 | Not stated for EOR on the pricing page (the contractor block states 'No deposit required'). | 160+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Papaya Global· $3,353/mo |
| Borderless AI EOR at $579 per employee per month, no deposit or pre-funding, 170+ countries. | $579 | $3,433 | No deposit: 'No upfront deposits or pre-funding required' (pricing page). | 170+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Borderless AI· $3,433/mo |
| Atlas HXM EOR from $599 through its own entities, plus an Agent of Record at $199. | from $599 | $3,453 | Not stated on the pricing page | 160+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Atlas HXM· $3,453/mo |
| Deel EOR in 130+ countries, starting at $599 per employee per month. | from $599 | $3,453 | Not stated on the pricing page | 130+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Deel· $3,453/mo |
| G-P EOR in 180+ countries from $599, with no minimum contract length. | from $599 | $3,453 | Not stated on the pricing page | 180+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from G-P· $3,453/mo |
| Oyster EOR in 120+ countries at USD 699 per employee per month; refundable deposit. | $699 | $3,553 | Refundable deposit required for EOR team members 'to initiate the engagement and to ensure on-time payments' (pricing FAQ). | 120+ | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Oyster· $3,553/mo |
| Remote EOR in 90+ countries at $699 per employee per month, no deposit. | $699 | $3,553 | No deposit: 'We collect reserve payments in rare, high risk circumstances' (pricing FAQ). | 90+ | 2 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Remote· $3,553/mo |
| Rippling EOR bundled with the Rippling platform; custom quote only. | Quote only | — | Not stated on the pricing page | — | 24 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Rippling |
| Safeguard Global EOR sold alongside entity setup and payroll; no price published. | Quote only | — | Not stated | 187+ | 21 Sept 2026 | Get a quote from Safeguard Global |
Same salary and statutory charges in every row; only the fee segment changes.
What Malaysia adds on top of the salary, and where each rate comes from.
Rates apply to the base named in each line; capped lines stop growing above the ceiling. Engine assumptions: Employee is a Malaysian citizen or permanent resident = 1; Employee is under 60 years old = 1.
| Line | Employer rate | Base & ceiling | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPF employer contribution (monthly wages above MYR 5,000)Malaysians, permanent residents and pre-1998 non-Malaysian members under 60, on monthly wages above MYR 5,000 | 12% | Gross salary ; only when gross ≥ MYR 60,000 / yr Employer 12%, employee 11%, under Part A of the EPF Third Schedule in force for the October 2025 salary month onwards. There is no wage ceiling on EPF, which is what makes Malaysia's employer cost rise steadily with pay while SOCSO and the Employment Insurance System stop at MYR 6,000 a month. One detail no guide prints: employers are not allowed to apply the exact percentage except above MYR 20,000 a month - below that the ringgit amount comes from the wage ranges in the Third Schedule and is rounded up to the next ringgit, so the real deduction is a few ringgit above the percentage this engine computes. EPF's own example puts RM816 against RM805.30 on a wage of RM6,710.80. | EPF (KWSP)2026-09-20 |
| EPF employer contribution (monthly wages of MYR 5,000 or less)Only when monthly wages are MYR 5,000 or less; above that the employer rate falls to 12% | 13% | Gross salary ; only when gross ≤ MYR 60,000 / yr Employer 13%, employee 11%, under the same Part A of the Third Schedule. The rate is not a band: at MYR 5,000 a month and below the whole wage carries 13%, and one ringgit higher the whole wage carries 12%, so an employer just above the line pays less in total than one just below it. Move the salary slider below MYR 60,000 a year in local currency and this line replaces the 12% one. | EPF (KWSP)2026-09-20 |
| SOCSO, First Category (Employment Injury and Invalidity)Employees under 60, for both the Employment Injury Scheme and the Invalidity Scheme | 1.75% | Gross salary , capped at MYR 72,000 / yr PERKESO states that the First Category rate 'comprises 1.75% of employer's share and 0.5% of employees' monthly wages according to the contribution schedule'. From 1 October 2024 the wage ceiling for contributions rose from MYR 5,000 to MYR 6,000 a month, so MYR 72,000 a year, and above it the contribution is frozen at the ceiling amount. The published schedule works in wage bands rather than a straight percentage, and its top band gives a maximum employer contribution of MYR 104.15 a month, a little under the MYR 105 this engine computes at the ceiling. | PERKESO (SOCSO)2026-09-20 |
| Employment Insurance System (EIS/SIP)Private-sector employees aged 18 to 60 | 0.20% | Gross salary , capped at MYR 72,000 / yr Contributions to the Employment Insurance System total 0.4% of the assumed monthly salary, 0.2% from the employer and 0.2% from the employee, under the Second Schedule and section 18 of the Employment Insurance System Act 2017. The same MYR 6,000 monthly ceiling applies from 1 October 2024, so MYR 72,000 a year, and the schedule's maximum employer contribution is MYR 11.90 a month. It is the smallest line on any Malaysian payslip and the one most often left out of a foreign employer's budget. | PERKESO2026-09-20 |
| HRD Corp levy (human resources development)Employers with 10 or more Malaysian employees, which every employer of record in Malaysia is | 1% | Gross salary HRD Corp states that 'for employers with 10 or more Malaysian employees, it is COMPULSORY to register with HRD Corp. The monthly levy is charged at the rate of 1% of the monthly wages of employees.' Employers with five to nine Malaysian employees may register instead at 0.5%. Because the legal employer under an employer-of-record arrangement is the provider, and a provider's Malaysian employing entity normally has well over ten Malaysian employees, the 1% rate is the one that reaches your invoice - even though you would be in the optional band, or outside the scheme entirely, if you hired one person through your own entity. There is no wage ceiling. The levy funds training claims the provider, not you, is entitled to make. | HRD Corp2026-09-20 |
| Thirteenth month - not required by Malaysian law not in total | — | Carried at zero because the Employment Act 1955 creates no thirteenth-month or annual-bonus entitlement. A contractual bonus is common in the Malaysian market and, once it is paid, it is wages: EPF, SOCSO, the Employment Insurance System and the HRD Corp levy all fall on it. Budget a bonus as market cost plus about 13% of itself, not as a legal charge. | Deel2026-09-20 |
| Termination and lay-off benefits not in total | — | Under regulation 6(1) of the Employment (Termination and Lay-Off Benefits) Regulations 1980, the payment is not less than ten days' wages for every year of service below two years, fifteen days' wages a year from two to five years, and twenty days' wages a year from five years, pro rata for an incomplete year to the nearest month. It is owed once the employee has twelve months of continuous service and the contract ends for any reason other than retirement at a contractual age, dismissal for misconduct after due inquiry, or a voluntary resignation. Paragraph 1A of the First Schedule to the Employment Act 1955 disapplies section 60J, under which these Regulations are made, to an employee whose wages exceed MYR 4,000 a month, so above that line the exit cost is whatever the contract says. Deel's Malaysia guide of 9 June 2026 adds that a redundancy termination is generally not available for an employee held through an employer of record, mutual termination being the route used instead. It is carried at zero because it falls due on termination rather than monthly. | Employment (Termination and Lay-Off Benefits) Regulations 1980, regulations 3, 4 and 6 (P.U. (A) 338/83 as last amended by P.U. (A) 92/2011, in force from 1 April 2011), with the Employment Act 1955, section 60J and First Schedule paragraph 1A (Attorney General's Chambers updated text as at 1 January 2023), both as published by the Department of Labour of Peninsular Malaysia2026-09-24 |
| Employer on-cost at $30,000 | +14.1% | $4,244 a year, $354 a month |
EOR or your own entity
Fees scale with headcount. An entity does not.
Deel's Malaysia guide, dated 9 June 2026, puts its own estimate for your own Malaysian entity at MYR 137,378 of one-off incorporation, licensing and registration cost plus MYR 165,206 a year of payroll, accounting and filings, against MYR 30,466 a year per employee for its employer-of-record service, and one month to the first hire. Those are Deel's figures for its own comparison, not an independent estimate. The structural point is that a Sdn Bhd of your own with fewer than ten Malaysian employees would be outside the compulsory HRD Corp levy band, while a provider's entity is always inside it - one of the few places where an entity is cheaper per head on a statutory line rather than only on the fee.
Fees grow with every hire; the charges line is owed under an entity too.
| Headcount | RemoFirst fees / yr | Borderless AI fees / yr | Statutory charges / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,388 | $6,948 | $4,244 |
| 3 | $7,164 | $20,844 | $12,732 |
| 5 | $11,940 | $34,740 | $21,220 |
| 10 | $23,880 | $69,480 | $42,441 |
| 20 | $47,760 | $138,960 | $84,881 |
Statutory charges are owed either way; the provider fee is the only line an entity removes, against the cost of incorporating and running local payroll.
Employment terms that move the cost
- Paid leave
- 8 days
- Public holidays
- 11
- 13th month
- Not mandatory
- Probation
- no statutory maximum
- Notice
- Where the contract is silent, the Employment Act ladder applies: four weeks below two years of service, six weeks from two to five years, eight weeks beyond five. Payment in lieu or garden leave is allowed. Probation length is not fixed by statute; contracts commonly run three to six months.
- Reviewed
- 2026-09-20
Get a quote for Malaysia.
The lowest published total here, next to the two providers searched for most often (the rule). Totals for 1 hire at $30,000. Ask each provider about deposits, FX margins and mandatory add-ons for Malaysia: those are the lines that move.
Get a RemoFirst quote· $3,053/mo Get a Papaya quote· $3,353/mo Get a Deel quote· $3,453/mo
Disclosure Some provider links are affiliate links; they never change the numbers on this page. Details
Questions people ask before booking a demo
- How much does an employer of record cost in Malaysia?
- For one employee at US$30,000 gross a year (about MYR 122,000), the statutory employer charges are EPF at 12%, SOCSO at 1.75% and the Employment Insurance System at 0.2%, both capped at MYR 6,000 of monthly wages, and the HRD Corp levy at 1% of wages with no ceiling. That comes to roughly 14% on top of salary. Published employer-of-record fees then run from US$199 to US$699 per employee per month, so the all-in cost is roughly US$3,050 to US$3,550 a month depending on the provider.
- Does the EPF employer rate really change at MYR 5,000 a month?
- Yes, and it is a cliff rather than a band. Part A of the EPF Third Schedule sets the employer share at 13% when monthly wages are MYR 5,000 or less and 12% when they are above, applied to the whole wage either way. An employee on MYR 5,000 costs the employer MYR 650 of EPF; one on MYR 5,001 costs MYR 600. EPF has no upper ceiling, so above that point the employer cost grows in a straight line with pay.
- What changes if the employee is not a Malaysian citizen?
- The EPF line collapses. A non-Malaysian who first registered as an EPF member from 1 August 1998 is on Part F of the Third Schedule, where the employer pays 2% and the employee 2% with no wage limit, instead of 12% or 13%. Non-Malaysians registered before that date keep the Part A rates. SOCSO still applies, foreign workers being covered under the Third Schedule of Act 4, and the HRD Corp levy is charged on Malaysian employees. The practical effect is that a foreign hire in Malaysia carries roughly ten points less statutory cost than a local one.
- Is the HRD Corp levy an employer cost or a training budget?
- Both, and only one of them is yours. The levy is 1% of monthly wages, compulsory for any employer with ten or more Malaysian employees, so it always applies to an employer of record's entity and reaches you through the invoice. What it buys - the right to claim training grants from the fund - belongs to the legal employer, which is the provider. If training claims matter to you, ask before signing whether the provider passes any of that entitlement through; most price the levy as a pure cost.
- How many paid annual leave days does Malaysian law require?
- The Employment Act 1955 sets eight days in the first two years of service, twelve days from two to five years and sixteen days beyond five. Eight days is the figure used here, because it is what a first-year hire is legally owed. Malaysia also observes eleven paid public holidays a year, five of them fixed by statute and six chosen by the employer, and work on a public holiday is paid at 200%.