SSPN tax relief 2026: RM8,000, and only one parent claims

How the RM8,000 is worked out

The relief sits in paragraph 46(1)(k) of the Income Tax Act 1967, and LHDN's notes to Form BE attach three conditions to it. The claim is the net amount you deposited in that calendar year. Whatever was already in the account on 1 January does not count. And RM8,000 is the ceiling for the whole claim, not for each child.

LHDN illustrates it with this account, in its own figures:

The RM6,500 is the RM8,500 of deposits less the RM2,000 medical withdrawal. The RM3,000 that went to the university is left out of the sum, and so is the RM25,500 opening balance. Had there been no withdrawals at all, the claim would have stopped at the RM8,000 ceiling, not RM8,500.

Which withdrawals cut your claim?

LHDN's one-line summary of this relief is total deposits minus total withdrawals, and most guides stop there. That line leaves out the part that matters most to a parent whose child is already in college. LHDN's Malay notes to Form BE 2025 say it in words: a withdrawal to finance the education of a child at tertiary level is not taken into account in working out the net savings for that year. The English notes show the same thing through the example above. PTPTN reads tertiary as diploma, bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctorate.

So paying a semester's fees out of the account does not cost you the relief on what you put in that same year. Taking money out for a car repair, a holiday or a hospital bill does, ringgit for ringgit.

We will own up to this one. Until September 2026 our own internal fact sheet said that every withdrawal reduces the claim. We corrected it after rereading LHDN's notes, and the relief checklist on this site now says what this page says.

One caution. You declare the net figure yourself, and PTPTN states that the depositor is fully responsible for the amount declared. If you left an education withdrawal out of the sum, keep the offer letter and the fee receipt beside your SSPN statement.

Only one of you can claim, and only your own deposits

This is the rule that catches couples. LHDN's notes say that where a husband and wife are assessed separately, the deduction may only be claimed by either the husband or the wife who made the SSPN savings. PTPTN puts it the same way: one of the depositors, father or mother.

The words people skip are "who made the savings". In LHDN's example the husband deposits RM5,500 and the wife RM4,000 for one child, under separate assessment. The answer given is husband RM5,500 or wife RM4,000. Not RM8,000, and not both. Whatever the other parent deposited earns no relief that year.

Do not switch to joint assessment just to pool SSPN deposits. Joint assessment usually costs a two-income couple more than it saves. The simpler fix is to decide which of you does the depositing.

Divorced parents are the exception. LHDN's example gives a former husband who deposited RM10,000 a claim of RM8,000, and a former wife who deposited RM5,000 a claim of RM5,000, both in the same year.

And do not both claim and hope nobody notices. PTPTN says LHDN matches the data of husbands and wives under separate assessment who claim SSPN relief, for audit purposes.

Same RM8,000 saved, four different results

Jun Hao and Li Ting save RM8,000 a year in Simpan SSPN Prime for their daughter, and they file separately. After his other reliefs, Jun Hao's chargeable income is RM118,000, so his top slice is taxed at 25%. Li Ting's is RM62,000, where the top slice is taxed at 11%. The tax bands are the same for YA 2025 and YA 2026.

Nothing about the saving itself changed. Same child, same RM8,000. Splitting it evenly, which feels like the fair thing to do, halves the relief, because only one half can ever be claimed. The parent in the higher tax band should be the depositor.

Who can claim, and who cannot

PTPTN's conditions name parents, adoptive parents and legal guardians who save for the child's benefit. A grandparent or another close relative may open an account for a child, and you may open one for yourself, but PTPTN ties the relief to an account opened with your own child or legally adopted child as the beneficiary. For an adopted child, PTPTN asks for the adoption certificate or a statutory declaration when the account is opened.

Two more limits come from PTPTN. The account has to be closed when the beneficiary turns 29. And if the beneficiary dies, deposits made after that date no longer qualify.

Simpan SSPN Plus: one payment, two different reliefs

Simpan SSPN Plus bundles savings with takaful cover, and every monthly package is split between the two. PTPTN's Berlian package, for example, is RM500 a month: RM200 of savings and RM300 of takaful. Only the savings part counts towards the RM8,000. The takaful contribution belongs on the life insurance and EPF line instead, on the life insurance side, which is capped at RM3,000 inside that RM7,000 group.

So a full year of Berlian is RM2,400 of SSPN relief, not RM6,000. Read the two figures off your statement separately before you type anything into the form.

Proof, and where it goes on the form

PTPTN issues a tax relief statement that you download from the myPTPTN website or app. That is the document to keep. On the YA 2025 Form BE the relief is item G13, and the rule is the same if you file Form B. Our e-BE walkthrough shows where the relief screen sits. Keep the statement for seven years with the rest of your receipts.

What to do before 31 December

1. Check who has deposited what so far in 2026. If it is split, let the higher earner make the remaining deposits, because only one of you will claim.
2. Label any withdrawal you made this year. Tertiary fees: keep the receipt and leave it out of the sum. Anything else: subtract it.
3. Deposit before 31 December 2026, and not on the last evening. A deposit that lands in January belongs to YA 2027.

SSPN is one line among many. Our tax relief checklist lists the rest for YA 2025 and YA 2026, how to pay less income tax puts them in order of what they are worth, and the free tax calculator shows what RM8,000 of relief does at your own income.