Lifestyle Tax Relief Malaysia — What Qualifies for the RM2,500 Claim

The lifestyle tax relief lets you claim up to RM2,500 per year against your taxable income for specific personal purchases. It is one of the most commonly claimed reliefs in Malaysia — and one of the most commonly misunderstood. People either leave money on the table by not claiming qualifying items, or assume purchases qualify when they do not.

This guide covers exactly what falls inside the RM2,500 lifestyle relief for Year of Assessment 2025 (YA2025), what does not qualify, and where the confusion between "lifestyle" and "technology" relief comes from.

Last updated 11 October 2026 · money.com.my Editorial

What does the lifestyle relief cover for YA2025?#

For YA2025, the lifestyle relief is a single combined category worth up to RM2,500. You can claim any combination of the following (sports has its own RM1,000 relief, covered further down):

1. Books, Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers#

Physical and digital formats both qualify. This includes:

• Printed books (fiction, non-fiction, textbooks, reference)
• E-books and digital publications (Kindle purchases, Apple Books)
• Magazine subscriptions (print or digital)
• Newspaper subscriptions (print or digital — The Star, NST, Berita Harian, etc.)
• Academic journals and professional publications

The key requirement is that it must be a publication — a book, periodical, or journal. Educational apps that are essentially digital textbooks generally qualify; general entertainment apps do not.

2. Personal Computer, Smartphone, or Tablet#

One purchase of a computer, smartphone, or tablet counts toward the RM2,500 lifestyle relief. This covers:

• Laptops and desktop computers
• Smartphones
• Tablets (iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, etc.)

Important for YA2025: The technology purchase is included within the same RM2,500 lifestyle cap — it is not a separate relief. If you bought a RM3,000 phone, you can only claim RM2,500 total for the entire lifestyle category, not RM2,500 for the phone plus another RM2,500 for books and internet.

3. Skill-Improvement and Personal-Development Courses#

Course fees for improving your skills or personal development sit inside the same RM2,500 lifestyle relief in LHDN's YA2025 table (item 9).

4. Internet Subscription#

Your home internet or mobile data plan qualifies. This includes:

• Home broadband (Unifi, Maxis Fibre, Time, etc.)
• Mobile postpaid data plans
• Portable WiFi subscriptions

You can only claim the internet subscription portion. If your mobile plan bundles voice + data, claim the full plan amount — LHDN accepts bundled telco plans under this category.

Is sports spending part of the lifestyle relief?#

Sports spending is not part of the RM2,500 lifestyle cap. LHDN's YA2025 table lists it as its own "lifestyle additional relief" of up to RM1,000, for spending on yourself, your spouse, your children and your parents:

• Sports equipment for any sports activity defined under the Sports Development Act 1997
• Rental or entrance fees for any sports facility (court bookings, futsal field rental)
• Registration fees for sports competitions where the organiser is approved and licensed by the Commissioner of Sports
• Gymnasium membership fees and sports training fees

The purchase must be for sports or physical exercise. Athleisure clothing worn casually does not count — the item must be used for the sport itself.

Because the two reliefs are separate, a RM2,500 laptop uses up the lifestyle relief but leaves the RM1,000 sports relief untouched. This is the cap for YA2025 (the return filed in 2026); the Budget 2027 annex describes the same RM1,000 limit as the current position.

What does not qualify for the lifestyle relief?#

This is where most people get it wrong. The following are not claimable under lifestyle relief:

Is there a separate technology relief?#

Some older articles describe a separate RM2,500 relief for buying a computer, smartphone or tablet. LHDN's YA2025 table has no such relief: devices are listed inside the lifestyle relief (item 9). The Budget 2027 annex describes the current position the same way: from YA2024 the RM2,500 lifestyle relief covers reading material (including e-books and daily newspapers), a personal computer, smartphone or tablet, and internet subscription.

This means that if you buy a RM2,500 laptop, your entire RM2,500 lifestyle relief is used up. There is no additional headroom for books or internet bills in that assessment year. The RM1,000 sports relief is separate and is not affected.

Check the current year's LHDN guidelines before filing. The government has changed the structure of this relief multiple times, and it may change again for later years. The authoritative source is the LHDN website at hasil.gov.my under "Tax Reliefs for Resident Individual."

How do you claim the lifestyle relief?#

Keep Your Receipts#

LHDN does not require you to upload receipts when filing via e-Filing. But you must keep them for 7 years in case of an audit. Acceptable proof includes:

• Physical receipts and invoices
• Digital receipts (email confirmations from online purchases)
• Bank/credit card statements showing the transaction (as supporting evidence, not sole proof)
• Gym membership confirmation letters

Where to Declare#

When filing your annual return via mytax.hasil.gov.my:

1. Navigate to Section C — Claim for Deductions / Reliefs
2. Find the Lifestyle relief row
3. Enter the total amount of qualifying purchases for the year, up to RM2,500 (sports spending goes in its own additional lifestyle row, up to RM1,000)

You do not need to itemise each purchase in the e-Filing form. Enter the total. Keep the itemised receipts in your own records.

What is proposed for YA2027? (Budget 2027, not yet law)#

The Budget 2027 tax annex proposes changes from YA2027 (the return filed in 2028). They are proposals until the Finance Bill passes and do not change anything above:

• The lifestyle relief would extend to AI software and application subscriptions for yourself, your spouse or children, and to pet-care costs (adopting from a registered animal shelter, and registered veterinary vaccination and sterilisation). The RM2,500 cap would stay (annex Lampiran 6, p.12).
• The sports relief would extend to sports shoes of up to RM300. The RM1,000 cap would stay (annex p.13).
• Course and training fees would move out of the lifestyle relief into a reclassified tuition and skills-training relief (annex Lampiran 5, pp.10–11).

How Much Is the Lifestyle Relief Actually Worth?#

The relief reduces your chargeable income, not your tax bill directly. The actual tax saving depends on your marginal tax rate:

At the 19% bracket — which covers many mid-career professionals earning RM70,001 to RM100,000 — the full RM2,500 lifestyle relief puts RM475 back in your pocket. That is real money for purchases you were probably making anyway.

The Bottom Line#

The lifestyle relief is straightforward once you know the boundaries. Books, internet, courses and one gadget per year — all under one RM2,500 cap — plus a separate RM1,000 for sports. Streaming services, gaming consoles, and general electronics are out. Keep receipts for 7 years. Declare the total in Section C.

If you have not yet filed your YA2025 return, our complete income tax filing guide walks through the full e-Filing process from start to finish, including all other reliefs you may be eligible for.

Related Guides#

• How to File Income Tax in Malaysia — Complete Guide for Employees — step-by-step e-Filing walkthrough with full relief table and tax bracket breakdown
• EPF Complete Guide 2026 — Account 1, 2 & 3 Explained — your EPF contributions are a separate RM4,000 relief on top of lifestyle
• Medical Tax Relief Malaysia 2026 — Parents, Insurance, Serious Illness — the other major relief category, covering parents' medical, insurance, and serious illness claims

Amendment, 10 October 2026. This guide said the sports relief was a further RM2,500 (FAQ) and put sports equipment and gym membership inside the RM2,500 lifestyle cap (body and summary). LHDN's YA2025 relief table (return filed in 2026; hasil.gov.my/en/individu/pelepasan-cukai/, last updated 26 June 2026) lists sports as a separate additional relief of RM1,000 (item 10) and the lifestyle relief of RM2,500 as books, a computer, smartphone or tablet, internet and skill-course fees (item 9); the Budget 2027 annex (Lampiran 6, p.12, and p.13) states the same current positions. The unsourced claims that the relief began in Budget 2017 and that a separate technology relief ran from YA2017 to YA2023 were removed. A short section on the Budget 2027 proposals for YA2027 was added and is labelled as not yet law. Still outstanding: the claim that bundled mobile plans and portable WiFi qualify as internet subscriptions, and the "registered fitness centre" condition for gyms (now removed from the FAQ), have not been checked against LHDN's published guidelines.

Amendment, 11 October 2026. Structural change only: a short answer was added at the top and section headings were rewritten as the questions they answer. No figure, rule or source was changed. Every figure in the short answer already appears in the body of this guide, and nothing listed above as still outstanding is used in it.

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