Payroll & Employer
Payroll Outsourcing Malaysia
Malaysian payroll, statutory contributions and year-end filings handled end to end
Monthly payroll processing for SG (CPF, SDL, FWL, SHG levies - CDAC/ECF/MBMF/SINDA), MY (EPF, SOCSO, EIS and the HRD Corp levy), TH (SSO), VN (SI/UI/HI), and ID (BPJS Kesehatan & Ketenagakerjaan). 12-month minimum term with 1-month refundable deposit. Includes payslip generation, annual tax form submission (IR8A in SG, EA Form in MY, country equivalents in TH/VN/ID), and audit-ready reporting.
24+ years
of regional HR group heritage
Since 2023
Malaysia payroll practice - SSM No. 202301013635 (1507557-T)
9 entities
across 5 SEA markets
5 currencies
MYR · SGD · THB · VND · IDR
How it works
1
Scope
Headcount, employment categories, pay cycle and every recurring statutory filing, mapped before the first run.
2
Onboard
Migrate master data, salary structures and leave balances, then run one parallel cycle to prove accuracy before cutover.
3
Run
Monthly payroll in ringgit. EPF, SOCSO, EIS and the HRD Corp levy calculated and remitted, tax deducted and filed by the fifteenth, payslips and bank files issued, variances flagged before disbursement.
4
Close
EA Forms before the February deadline, the employer return in March, CP21 clearance for employees leaving Malaysia, and audit-ready records you can pull at any time.
Payroll outsourcing in Malaysia, backed by 24+ years of group heritage
Malaysian payroll is less about the calculation than the calendar. EPF, SOCSO, EIS and the monthly tax deduction all fall due by the fifteenth of the following month, the HRD Corp levy runs on its own cycle, EA Forms have to be in employees' hands by the end of February so they can file, and the employer return follows in March. Miss one and the penalty is not the problem; the audit trail is. Add a mixed workforce of citizens, permanent residents and pass holders, each with a different treatment, plus CP21 clearance for anyone leaving the country, and a lean finance team spends more time on payroll than it ever intended. We run it through People Profilers (Services) Sdn. Bhd., incorporated in April 2023 specifically to provide manpower contracting and payroll services, inside a group with locally incorporated entities in five Southeast Asian markets.
What's included in our payroll service
Everything below is inside the monthly fee rather than quoted as extras. The one thing worth deciding early is the cutover: we run a parallel cycle against your existing payroll before switching, so any discrepancy surfaces while both sets of numbers still exist.
Monthly payroll administration
- ✓Payslip generation, distribution, and archiving
- ✓Bank file generation for salary disbursement
- ✓Variance reports flagged before payroll runs
- ✓Multi-currency support (MYR, SGD, THB, VND, IDR)
Statutory contributions handled
- ✓EPF, SOCSO, EIS and the HRD Corp levy for Malaysia employees
- ✓Country-equivalent contributions in SG / TH / VN / ID
- ✓Foreign-pass workforce (Work Permit / PVP / EP) included
- ✓Calculated at official rates - no markup, no margin
Year-end + situational filings
- ✓EA Form annual returns (Malaysia)
- ✓CP21 tax clearance for employees leaving Malaysia for more than 3 months
- ✓Country-equivalent annual returns in SG / TH / VN / ID
- ✓Optional add-ons: leave portal, expense management
Engagement letters spell out every fee in writing before onboarding. Engagements have a 12-month minimum term with one month's fees held as a refundable security deposit. You remain the legal employer of your team. We administer payroll, contributions, and filings on your behalf.
When payroll outsourcing makes sense in Malaysia
Outsourcing payroll is rarely a cost decision. It is about moving a high-risk, low-leverage process off a team that has better things to do. Three patterns account for most of it here.
One person knows how it works
In most lean Malaysian finance teams, payroll lives with one individual and a spreadsheet nobody else fully understands. That is fine until they resign in the same month the EA Forms are due. Outsourcing turns an individual dependency into a documented process with a deadline calendar attached.
A workforce split across several markets
Employees in Malaysia plus Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia means four or five statutory regimes, four or five sets of deadlines and four or five currencies. Consolidated reporting with correct local handling is considerably cheaper than standing up a payroll capability in each country.
A mixed local and foreign-pass workforce
Citizens, permanent residents and Employment Pass holders are not treated identically for EPF, and the tax position differs again. Add CP21 clearance for an employee leaving Malaysia for more than three months and the manual reconciliation becomes the job. This is where in-house payroll most often gets it wrong.
You stay the legal employer of your team throughout. We administer the payroll, the contributions and the filings on your behalf. If you want us to be the legal employer instead, usually because you are hiring before you have incorporated, that is our Employer of Record service.
PAYROLL OUTSOURCING
Malaysian payroll run to Malaysian statutory deadlines
EPF, SOCSO and EIS calculated and remitted · Monthly tax deduction filed by the fifteenth · EA Forms out before the February deadline
Industries & Functions We Cover
Payroll Outsourcing support spans the same industry and functional breadth as our recruitment practice. People Profilers has operated payroll for clients across every major Malaysia and SEA industry, backed by 24+ years of regional group heritage across Southeast Asia - your payroll will be administered by people who understand your sector's pay structures, allowances, and statutory nuances.
Aerospace & Aviation
Licensed aircraft engineers, avionics technicians, MRO project managers and aerospace QA around Subang, Sepang and Senai.
Automotive
Sales and aftersales managers, service centre leads, parts and inventory specialists, and EV product roles with distributors and component makers.
Banking & Financial Services
Relationship managers, credit and investment analysts, compliance and AML officers and risk managers across BNM-licensed institutions, takaful and Islamic finance.
Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical
Regulatory affairs, QA and QC, process and validation specialists, medical science liaisons and commercial roles for manufacturers and distributors.
Chemical
Process and production engineers, EHS officers, technical sales and plant supervisors across specialty and petrochemical operations.
Construction & Civil Engineering
Project managers, site and structural engineers, quantity surveyors, contracts managers and safety officers on Klang Valley and Iskandar developments.
FMCG & Retail
Brand and category managers, trade marketing, key account managers and retail operations across a dispersed peninsular sales force.
Healthcare
Medical representatives, clinical operations, pharmacists, nursing leadership and hospital administration for private groups and device companies.
IT & Telecommunication
Software engineers, DevOps, product managers, network and infrastructure specialists and technical sales across KL, Cyberjaya and the Penang corridor.
Logistics & Transportation
Warehouse and operations supervisors, freight forwarders, customs specialists, fleet and procurement roles around Port Klang, KLIA and Johor.
Marine & Offshore Engineering
Naval architects, marine and subsea engineers, project and vessel operations roles, and HSE specialists for yards and offshore support.
Media & Publishing
Account managers, content and digital marketing specialists, designers, editors and PR executives across agencies and publishers.
Oil & Gas
Drilling, process and reservoir engineers, HSE coordinators, project controls and commercial analysts, including upstream and Sarawak and Sabah postings.
Real Estate & Property
Property and leasing managers, investment and asset managers, facilities leads and property consultants for developers and REITs.
Semiconductor
Process, equipment and test engineers, yield and reliability specialists, production supervisors and supply chain roles across the Penang and Kulim clusters.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the legal employer when I outsource payroll to People Profilers?
You remain the legal employer of your team. People Profilers acts as your payroll administrator. We process payslips, calculate statutory contributions, remit them to the relevant authorities, and prepare year-end filings on your behalf. The employment relationship between you and your employees is unchanged.
This is the defining difference between Payroll Outsourcing and our Employer of Record service. Under EOR, People Profilers becomes the legal employer of the worker. That's a different commercial and legal arrangement, used when clients want to hire in a market without setting up a local entity. Under Payroll Outsourcing, your entity remains the employer; we handle the administrative load.
Malaysia Payroll Outsourcing is delivered through People Profilers (Services) Sdn. Bhd. (SSM No. 202301013635 (1507557-T)), registered with SSM (Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia) to provide manpower contracting and HR outsourcing services - the appropriate framework for providing payroll and manpower services.
Can you process payroll for our foreign-pass employees and handle the Foreign Worker Levy?
Yes. Citizens, permanent residents and Employment Pass holders each carry a different EPF treatment and a different tax position, and getting that split wrong is the most common error we find when we take over an in-house payroll.
Levies on foreign workers are calculated, scheduled and remitted alongside the rest, and appear as their own line on your reporting rather than being buried in a blended statutory total.
CP21 tax clearance is handled for any employee leaving Malaysia for more than three months, and we will raise it at the point of resignation rather than after the final salary has been paid.
Which countries can you run payroll in?
People Profilers operates nine legal entities across five SEA markets: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. We can administer payroll in all five jurisdictions, using the locally incorporated entity for each country.
Each engagement is run in the local currency - MYR, SGD, THB, VND, or IDR - with statutory contributions calculated and remitted at the rates set by each country's regulator. Consolidated reporting across countries is standard, so finance leaders running multi-country teams see one set of numbers in one format.
How does the engagement and pricing work?
Every Payroll Outsourcing engagement is documented in an engagement letter before the first payroll run. The letter sets out the scope (headcount, countries, employment categories, payroll cycles), the fee structure, payment terms, and the statutory filings included.
Fees are transparent and itemised - administration fees for the monthly payroll work, separate line items for any one-time setup or add-on modules (leave portal, expense management), and pass-through statutory contributions at official rates with no markup.
Engagements have a minimum term of 12 months. Payroll setup is a meaningful operational investment for both parties - employee master data migration, salary structure validation, statutory registration verification, and a full parallel-run cycle before live cutover. The 12-month minimum reflects that commitment on both sides. One month's fees are held as a refundable security deposit for the duration of the engagement, returned at the close of the relationship or applied against the final invoice.
How do you handle data security and employee privacy?
Payroll data stays within named handlers on our team, and access is by role rather than by department. Bank files and payslips are issued through controlled channels, never as email attachments.
Employees see only their own payslip and EA Form. Your finance team sees the full register and the variance report before any disbursement leaves.
Records are archived in an audit-ready form for the statutory retention period and can be pulled on request.
What does the transition look like if we move from in-house payroll to your service?
A parallel run. We take your employee master data, salary structures, leave balances and prior-period reconciliations, process one full cycle alongside your existing payroll, and compare line by line before anything switches.
Timing matters in Malaysia. Moving mid-year means the EA Form for that year has to be built from two sets of records, so where there is a choice we cut over from January. Where there is not, we reconcile the prior period first and document it.
We work from your HRIS or from spreadsheets, whichever you have. No system migration is required to start.
Explore our other services
Need something different? Browse our other broad service categories.
Build strong teams with confidence. Our recruitment solutions connect you with the right talent, at the right time, using a consultative approach that prioritises long term fit and performance.
Simplify workforce management while staying compliant. Our employer and payroll solutions reduce administrative burden and allow you to focus on growing your business.
