Relief on net SSPN deposits up to RM8,000.
Tax saved
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Relief claimed
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Unused headroom
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Why net deposits, not the balance, drive the relief
SSPN, the Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional run for families saving toward their children's education, comes with a tax relief that catches a lot of parents out in one specific way. The relief is calculated on your net deposit for the year, not on how much sits in the account. Net deposit means everything you paid in during the year minus anything you took out in that same year. So an account holding RM40,000 of accumulated savings earns you nothing if you added nothing new and made no withdrawals; the relief rewards fresh saving, not the standing balance. This calculator applies that net-deposit basis and caps the relief at RM8,000, which you should confirm against the current LHDN guidance before filing.
Like every Malaysian relief, it reduces your chargeable income rather than your tax directly, so its cash value is the allowed amount multiplied by your marginal rate. That is why the tool asks for both your net deposit and the rate on your top band of income.
The RM8,000 ceiling and your headroom
The relief is capped, so anything you deposit beyond the limit still grows in the account but stops earning you tax relief that year. The calculator shows your unused headroom precisely so you can see how much more you could deposit and still have it count. If you deposit RM5,000, you have RM3,000 of headroom left. A practical move some families make is timing a top-up before the calendar year closes to use that remaining headroom, since the relief is assessed per year of assessment and headroom does not roll forward.
Putting RM5,000 into SSPN at 19 percent
Using the default inputs, a RM5,000 net deposit and a 19 percent marginal rate, here is the calculation exactly as the rates this calculator applies generate it.
| Step | Amount |
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Deposit the full RM8,000 instead and the saving at the same rate rises to RM1,520. The chart shows the claimed relief filling toward the cap, with the headroom you have not yet used shaded behind it.
A timing trap with same-year withdrawals
Here is the edge case that surprises people. Because the relief is net of withdrawals in the same year, taking money out late in the year can quietly erase relief you thought you had earned. Suppose you deposited RM6,000 across the year, then withdrew RM4,000 in December to pay a school bill. Your net deposit is RM2,000, and that is all you can claim, even though RM6,000 genuinely passed through the account. If you can, leave deposits untouched until the new year so they keep their full relief value, and try to make new deposits early in the year rather than rushing them in December alongside withdrawals that would net them off. SSPN also carries non-tax perks at various times, such as matching incentives or protection features, but those sit outside what this tool measures.
Can both parents claim SSPN relief for the same child?
Each taxpayer claims based on their own net deposits into accounts they hold, each capped at RM8,000. Two working parents can therefore each claim against their respective deposits, but you cannot double-count the same ringgit. Coordinate so the deposits land in the right name to match who wants the relief, and confirm the current rules with LHDN.
Does SSPN relief change my refund or just my chargeable income?
It lowers your chargeable income first, which then lowers the tax due. If your employer already deducted monthly tax through PCB without accounting for this deposit, claiming the relief at filing time can turn into a refund. The RM950 in the example is the reduction in tax, which becomes a refund only to the extent you had already paid it.