Joint or separate assessment?
If you are married, you and your spouse can file together or you can each file on your own. Which one costs less depends on what each of you earns and what each of you can claim. Add your spouse on the calculator and it will work both out for you.
Filing together
One spouse is the person named on the assessment. The incomes of both spouses are added together, and so are the reliefs. Tax is then worked out once, on the combined amount that is left after reliefs.
The RM400 rebate becomes RM800 if the combined chargeable income is RM35,000 or less.
Filing on your own
Each spouse files a separate return. Each of you claims your own reliefs and is taxed on your own chargeable income. If each of you has chargeable income of RM35,000 or less, each of you gets the RM400 rebate.
When filing together usually costs less
- One spouse earns a lot more than the other, or only one spouse earns anything.
- The spouse who earns less has a lot of reliefs, for example for children or for study, that would be wasted if they filed on their own because they do not earn enough to use them.
When filing on your own usually costs less
- You both earn about the same.
- You each have enough reliefs to bring your own chargeable income down into the lower bands.
- You can each get the RM400 rebate, because each of you has chargeable income of RM35,000 or less.
How to check
Type your spouse income into the calculator. It runs both ways and tells you which one costs less, and how much you save.