Sports tax relief 2026: what the RM1,000 covers, from gym to treadmill

The four things the RM1,000 covers

LHDN lists this as item 10, an additional lifestyle relief, restricted to RM1,000. It comes from paragraph 46(1)(u) of the Income Tax Act 1967, and LHDN's notes to Form BE break it into four limbs:

1. Sports equipment for a sports activity listed under the Sports Development Act 1997.
2. Rental or entrance fees for a sports facility: the badminton court, the futsal pitch, the public pool.
3. Registration fees for a competition whose organiser is approved and licensed by the Commissioner of Sports.
4. Gym membership or sports training fees, from a provider of the kind described below.

All four share one RM1,000. It is not RM1,000 each. And it has been this shape only since YA 2024: before that the sports relief was RM500, and gym membership sat inside the general lifestyle relief. That is why so many older articles still put the gym in the wrong place.

Equipment: what counts and what does not

The test is that the item is equipment for a sports activity. Rackets, shuttlecocks, balls, golf clubs, dumbbells, a yoga mat, swimming goggles and a normal bicycle for cycling all pass. So does a treadmill or an exercise bike: it is gym equipment, it just lives in your house. Because a decent treadmill costs more than RM1,000, buying one usually fills the whole ceiling for that year.

LHDN's notes name one exclusion inside the equipment limb: motorised two-wheel bicycles. An e-bike is out; a pedal bike is in. It does have to be equipment, which is where clothing falls down.

Gym and coaching: check who you are paying

The gym and training limb is the one with a condition most people never read. LHDN's notes say the fees must be paid to a sports association or club registered with the Commissioner of Sports, or to a company incorporated under the Companies Act 2016 that runs sports activities listed under the Sports Development Act.

A chain gym, a swimming academy run as a Sdn Bhd, or a registered badminton club all fit. A freelance coach you pay by bank transfer, who is neither a registered club nor a company, does not fit the wording. Before you pay a year upfront, ask for a receipt that shows the provider's company or club name and registration number.

Running shoes and jerseys: neither relief

This is the most common wrong claim on this line. Sports shoes and sports attire, meaning jerseys, sports pants and swimsuits, are clothing, not sports equipment. They do not fall back into the RM2,500 lifestyle relief either, because that relief is a closed list that has never included clothing. For YA 2025 and YA 2026, a pair of running shoes has no line on the form.

The Ministry of Finance's own Budget 2027 papers confirm the gap: the sports relief as it stands since YA 2024 lists the four limbs and no footwear, and Budget 2027 proposes adding sports shoes up to RM300 inside the same RM1,000 from YA 2027. That is income earned in 2027, filed in 2028, and it still needs the Finance Bill to pass. Shoes you buy this December do not count.

Who it can be for: parents yes, with one gap

Parents were added from YA 2025, which makes this the one lifestyle relief that reaches your mother and father. The RM2,500 general relief stops at you, your spouse and your child, as our lifestyle relief guide explains. The notes require parents to be resident in Malaysia, and the competition fee limb is written for yourself, your spouse or your child only. So your father's walking machine counts; his veterans' tournament entry fee does not.

The relief is for expenditure you incurred. If your spouse has income and is assessed separately, they have their own RM1,000 for what they pay. That matters, because RM1,000 runs out fast.

A worked example: a family that hit the ceiling by March

Izzat files separately from his wife Hani, who also works. After EPF and his other reliefs, his chargeable income is RM78,000, so his top slice is taxed at 19%. Hani's is RM46,000, taxed at 6% at the top. Here is the family's sports spending in 2026, all paid by Izzat:

Izzat can claim only RM1,000 of the RM1,920. RM920 of genuine, qualifying spending gets no relief at all. Now suppose Hani paid Danial's swimming fees herself, with the receipt in her name. Izzat still has RM1,320 and still claims his full RM1,000, and Hani claims RM600 against her own ceiling.

With everything on Izzat, the family saves RM190. With the swimming on Hani, RM226. Izzat's tax drops from RM5,220.00 to RM5,030.00 and Hani's from RM1,260.00 to RM1,224.00. The amounts are modest, which is honest: RM1,000 of relief is worth anything from nothing to RM300, depending on your top rate. The point is not to buy more. It is to put each receipt in the name of the person who paid it, and to leave the shoes off.

Receipts, timing and the form

The relief follows the year you paid. Anything paid by 31 December 2026 goes on the YA 2026 return you file in 2027. Keep each receipt with the provider's name, the date and the amount, and keep everything for seven years, the period LHDN can ask to see your records. Our guide to e-Invoices and relief claims covers what a valid receipt looks like now.

On the YA 2025 Form BE this relief is item G10, and the same relief appears on Form B. Our e-BE walkthrough shows where the relief screen sits. Sports is one relief among many: the tax relief checklist lists the rest for YA 2025 and YA 2026, and the free tax calculator shows what RM1,000 is worth at your own income.