SMEs can apply for salary subsidy from 9th April, here’s how to apply

As announced on Monday, the Malaysian government is offering salary subsidies for SMEs under the Pakej PRIHATIN PKS Tambahan. Small and medium-sized enterprises can get subsidies up to RM1,200 per employee for a period of 3 months. According to the Ministry of Human Resources, eligible employers can apply for the subsidy starting tomorrow.

When and how to apply?

Based on their latest FAQ, employers can apply via the PERKESO’s Prihatin portal beginning 9th April 2020. Applications are open until 15th September 2020 and it could close earlier when the funds are fully allocated. Once approved, the salary subsidies will be disbursed to the employer’s bank account within 7 to 14 days.

Employers will be informed of their status via email and the list of approved employers will be published on PERKESO’s EIS Centre website.

Salary Subsidy Program

To recap, the government is offering a subsidy of RM1,200/month per employee for companies with 75 staff and below and RM800/month for companies with 76 to 200 employees. For companies with more than 200 employees, the subsidy is RM600/month for up to a maximum of 200 employees. This is only applicable for employees with a monthly income of RM4,000 and below.

For companies with a size of more than 75 employees, they will need to provide evidence that their sales or income have dropped by at least 50% compared to January or the previous months. The subsidy is only offered for local employees and it isn’t applicable to expatriate or foreign worker.

As mentioned by the Prime Minister, companies that take up this subsidy must ensure that they retain their staff for at least 6 months. This includes 3 months while receiving the subsidy and three months after that. The subsidy is only applicable to companies that have registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) or local authorities before 1st January 2020. They must also be registered and have contributed to PERKESO.

You can read the full FAQ here.

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