Employer funding kit
Work out what your HRD Corp levy covers — then send it to whoever signs
You almost certainly pay the levy. There is almost certainly a balance. And it is almost certainly on a clock nobody has looked at.
Three things stop internal training budgets from moving, and none of them is whether the training would be useful. They are: nobody knows what it costs, nobody knows whether the levy covers it, and nobody wants to be the person who asks their manager for money without those two answers.
This page answers all three in your own numbers, and then writes the email for you. Everything below is HRD Corp’s own published rule, read on 10 September 2026 and sourced at the bottom.
The ledger
Put in your headcount, a rough average wage, and how many people would attend.
The levy ledger
What your company already contributes, what this costs, and what is at risk if nobody claims.
Your monthly levy
RM3,000
1% of monthly wages — compulsory
This training would cost
RM15,000–RM24,000
About RM750–RM1,200 per person at 20 people
At risk of forfeiture
RM62,000
Two years of contributions above the RM10,000 floor, if no claim is made
At your contribution rate, this training costs roughly 8.0 months of levy — money already leaving the payroll every month whether it is used or not.
Send it to whoever signs
The numbers above, written as an email. Edit it, then forward it.
An estimate, not advice. Levy rates and the forfeiture rule are HRD Corp’s, read 10 September 2026; your actual balance depends on your claim history and on the statutory definition of wages. Confirm your position with HRD Corp.
The three rules that decide everything
Who pays. Registration is compulsory for employers with ten or more Malaysian employees, at 1% of monthly wages. Employers with five to nine Malaysian employees may register optionally, at 0.5%.
The forfeiture clock. The period for holding unutilised levy was cut from five years to two, with effect from 1 January 2020. If no claims are made within twenty-four months, the balance above RM10,000 is forfeited and RM10,000 remains. Balances under RM10,000 are exempt — so your exposure is exactly the amount above that floor.
When the clock started. If you have claimed before, the two years run from the date of your last successful training claim. If you have never claimed, they run from when the balance first reached RM10,000. This is the number to go and find out.
| Malaysian employees | Registration | Levy rate |
|---|---|---|
| 10 or more | Compulsory | 1% of monthly wages |
| 5 to 9 | Optional | 0.5% of monthly wages if registered |
| Fewer than 5 | Not applicable | — |
The order of operations — get this wrong and you cannot claim
This is where employers who did everything else right lose the money. The grant application goes in before the training happens, and it is approved against a specific course, provider, dates and participant list. Training that has already run cannot be retro-fitted into an approved grant.
| # | Step | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confirm the provider AND the specific course are HRD Corp registered | Before quoting |
| 2 | Agree course, dates and participant list | Before applying |
| 3 | Submit the grant application | BEFORE the training — this is the one that catches people |
| 4 | Receive approval | Before the training runs |
| 5 | Deliver the training | — |
| 6 | Submit the claim with attendance and invoice | After delivery |
Why the fourth quarter is the tightest time to book
Search demand for HRD Corp funding terms peaks hard in September. Searches for “hrdf claimable training provider” run around six and a half times their annual average in that month; general training terms run three to four times higher.
That is levy-burn behaviour — companies realising late in the year that a balance is going unused, and moving to spend it. It repeats annually and it is not a coincidence.
The practical consequence is not budget. It is trainer availability: in the last quarter, the binding constraint on getting training delivered is finding someone with the dates free. If your levy is on a clock, the useful move is to start the conversation a quarter earlier than feels necessary.
Sources
- HRD Corp, Registered Employers — levy rates and registration thresholds. hrdcorp.gov.my/registered-employers
- HRD Corp Support Centre, Levy Forfeiture — the two-year rule and the RM10,000 floor. supportcentre.hrdcorp.gov.my
- Both read 10 September 2026. Rules change — confirm your own position with HRD Corp.
This page is a guide, not advice about your specific account. We are not HRD Corp and we cannot see your balance.
Ready to put a number in front of your manager?
Tell us the team size, the timeframe and whether you are registered with HRD Corp. We will come back with a day rate and a shape — and if a public course would serve you better, we will say so.