Employment Contracts
When an employment contract needs no stamping, exemption tiers, and wage requirements.
Employment contracts have special rules that depend on the contract date and the employee's monthly salary. Depending on both, a contract may not need to be stamped at all, or may be exempt from the RM 10 duty while still being stamped.
Does it even need stamping? (from 1 January 2026)
Under HASiL's media statement of 7 August 2026, an employment contract dated 1 January 2026 or later with a monthly basic salary at or below RM 3,000 does not need to be stamped or endorsed at all.
When Kenal Stamps detects this, the contract shows a "Stamping may not be required" notice with a Mark as not required (skip stamping) action. If you skip it:
- the contract is archived — it is not submitted to LHDN, and
- no stamp duty and no credits are charged.
This is optional and advisory. If you'd rather stamp it anyway (for example, to handle every contract in a batch the same way), you still can — see the duty rules below.
The contract date is the date the agreement was signed, not the date you upload it to Kenal Stamps. The salary check uses the basic wage field, falling back to total wage.
Duty rules when you do stamp
If a contract is stamped — because it does not qualify for the skip above, or because you choose to stamp it anyway — the duty depends on the contract date and salary:
| Contract date | Duty amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1 January 2025 | RM 0 (exempt) | Uses 1 Exemption Credit |
| During 2025 | RM 10 (fixed duty) | Standard fixed duty applies |
| 1 January 2026 onwards | RM 0 if monthly salary is at or below RM 3,000; RM 10 otherwise | Exempt contracts use 1 Exemption Credit |
An exempt contract is still submitted to LHDN and stamped — just at RM 0 duty, using 1 Exemption Credit instead of the Duty Wallet. This is different from the "not required" skip above, where the contract is not submitted at all. When a contract qualifies, you will see an exemption badge on it in the system.
Non-permanent contracts
Non-permanent contracts (fixed-term, temporary, or those paid hourly/daily/weekly) are usually stamped at the standard RM 10 fixed duty — not because of the contract type itself, but because hourly/daily/weekly pay typically has no monthly base salary for the exemption check. A non-permanent contract that does have a monthly basic (or total) wage at or below RM 3,000 qualifies for the same 2026 treatment as any other.
Wage details requirement
For contracts dated 1 January 2026 onwards, the wage details section is mandatory. If you do not provide wage information, the submission will be rejected with a validation error.
The wage details include:
- Basic wage (preferred for the exemption check)
- Total wage (used as fallback)
- Allowances (optional)
- Payment frequency and due date (optional)
Wallet deductions for employment contracts
| Scenario | Service Credits | Duty Wallet | Exemption Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skipped — stamping not required (≤ RM 3,000, from 2026) | 0 | RM 0 | 0 |
| Standard (RM 10 duty) | 1 | RM 10 | 0 |
| Exempt but stamped (salary at or below RM 3,000) | 1 | RM 0 | 1 |
| Pre-2025 (all exempt) | 1 | RM 0 | 1 |