What must be on a valid donation receipt in Malaysia? A checklist for NPOs

The donor whose "proper receipt" question you can't answer from a template

Every March and April, as individuals prepare their e-Filing returns, NPO admins get the same call: "my accountant says this isn't a proper receipt" or "LHDN queried my donation claim." The honest starting point is that a tax-deductible donation receipt is only valid if two separate things are both true at the time the gift was made: your organisation holds approval from the Director General of Inland Revenue (DGIR) under subsection 44(6) of the Income Tax Act 1967, and the gift was money, given to a fund or purpose your approval actually covers ^[1][3].

LHDN's own overview of subsection 44(6) approval (last updated 9 June 2026) confirms that approval is granted by application ^[1]. The overview page points readers to application guidelines dated 20 January 2020 — but that specific document has since been replaced twice over: by a version dated 20 August 2024, and then by the current version, dated 23 October 2025, reference LHDN.600-1/7/3 ^{[2, §1.2]}. This article cites the current, 23 October 2025 guideline directly rather than the superseded date the overview page still names. An approved organisation receives two benefits under it: its own income becomes exempt from tax under paragraph 13(1) of Schedule 6, and donors can deduct their gift, restricted to 10% of their aggregate income ^[1]. LHDN's Public Ruling No. 7/2025, Taxation of a Resident Individual Part I – Gifts or Contributions and Allowable Deductions (published 5 December 2025), confirms the same 10% restriction for a gift of money made to an approved institution, organisation or fund under subsection 44(6) ^{[3, para 5.2.1]}.

Practical tips:

• Keep your approval letter somewhere your finance team can find it in thirty seconds — the donor on the phone usually needs an answer today, not after you've searched a filing cabinet.
• If a donor's accountant is querying a receipt, the two facts to check first are: was your approval current on the date of that gift, and did the gift go to a fund your approval actually names.

What has to be on the receipt — LHDN's own checklist

Hand-written receipt books are where this usually breaks down: a duplicate number reused by accident, a receipt torn out and never recorded, or a name copied wrong from a donation box slip. LHDN's current guideline for approval under subsection 44(6) — dated 23 October 2025, reference LHDN.600-1/7/3 — publishes exactly this checklist at §4.9: every approved organisation submits its receipt format to KPHDN for approval, and it must contain ^{[2, §4.9]}:

1. Malay, or bilingual Malay and English.
2. Your organisation's name and address.
3. A unique, preprinted serial receipt number — issued once and never reused.
4. The date of the receipt.
5. The donor's name, together with their IC number, passport number and business-registration number (whichever applies), and their correspondence address.
6. The amount donated.
7. The position of whoever collected the donation — for example, President or Treasurer.
8. A fixed note, in a clearly visible spot (typically the bottom-left corner), in the form: "Potongan Di Bawah Subseksyen 44(6) Akta Cukai Pendapatan 1967: No. Rujukan: LHDN.AG.600-12/1/4-6.XXXX / Tempoh kuat kuasa: hh/bb/tttt hingga hh/bb/tttt" — your organisation's own approval reference and its validity period go where the guideline's own template shows "XXXX" ^{[2, §4.9(h)]}.

Any receipt issued electronically — other than an e-Invoice — needs its own separate written approval from KPHDN before you use it ^{[2, §4.9(i)]}.

That checklist alone doesn't make a receipt valid, either: the same guideline requires the donor's own information to be complete before you're allowed to issue a receipt at all (§5.6). For an individual donor, that's their name, current IC or passport number, and full address; for a non-individual donor (a company or society giving as an entity), it's their name, registration number with the relevant registrar, and full address. A donor who doesn't supply this isn't eligible for a receipt ^{[2, §5.6]} — which is the guideline's own answer to the bank-in problem covered below.

Your own KPHDN approval letter (§4.8) sits alongside this checklist, not instead of it — it carries your specific approval number, period and any special conditions ^{[2, §4.8]}.

Practical tips:

• Retire hand-written receipt books where you can. A gap or a duplicate in a preprinted sequence is exactly what §4.9(c) exists to prevent, and it's the first thing an auditor or LHDN checks.
• Match your donor's name to the identity document they actually hold, not just what they say over the phone, and check your current template against the §4.9(h) footer note before your next print run — not after an audit asks about it.

Issuing a "tax-deductible" receipt for the wrong fund

A common and costly mistake: an organisation's 44(6) approval covers its general fund, but a committee member issues tax-deductible receipts for a new building appeal or overseas relief drive that was never separately approved. LHDN's approval is granted to a specific institution, organisation or fund ^[1][3] — it doesn't automatically extend to every new campaign you later launch. Issuing a tax-deductible receipt against a fund your approval doesn't name puts the donor's deduction, and your organisation's standing with LHDN, at risk.

Practical tips:

• Before you announce a new fund or building appeal as "tax-deductible", check whether it's covered by your existing 44(6) approval or needs its own. If you're unsure, ask LHDN or your tax advisor before you promise donors a deduction, not after.
• Keep a simple internal list of which of your funds are actually covered by your current approval, and share it with whoever authorises receipts.

Cash gifts, bank-ins with no donor details, and in-kind gifts

Subsection 44(6) itself covers a gift of money ^{[3, para 5.2.1]} — a specific ringgit amount that moved from the donor to your organisation. LHDN's guideline narrows this further: an official receipt can only be issued for a cash or money gift that isn't subject to repayment, isn't made through a loan or interest scheme, carries no condition from the donor, isn't a reciprocal exchange of benefit between the donor and your organisation, and comes with no agreement on how the fund is used ^{[2, §3.4]}. A bank transfer or online payment that arrives with no donor name attached (a bare "cash deposit" slip with no reference) is money, but you can't issue a tax-deductible receipt against it until you know who gave it — a donor who hasn't supplied their name and identity details isn't eligible for a receipt at all, whoever eventually claims to have made it ^{[2, §5.6]}.

Non-cash gifts sit outside subsection 44(6) entirely, and the same guideline is explicit that goods can be accepted by your organisation but don't qualify for a tax-deduction receipt ^{[2, §11.2]}. The Income Tax Act allows deductions for specific kinds of in-kind and non-money contributions under separate provisions — artefacts, manuscripts and paintings to the Government or State Government (subsection 44(6A)), contributions in kind for facilities for disabled persons (subsection 44(9)), and contributions in kind for a Minister-approved project of national interest (subsection 44(11C)), among others ^{[3, paras 5.2.2, 5.2.4, 5.2.8]} — each with its own approval path and its own valuation rule. A donated laptop, a stock of medical supplies, or a plot of land doesn't automatically qualify just because your organisation holds 44(6) approval for money gifts. See Non-cash gifts and your tax receipt for how in-kind donations are treated.

Practical tips:

• Never issue a tax-deductible receipt for an unidentified bank-in. Chase the donor for their name and identity details first, or record it as an anonymous, non-deductible gift.
• If someone wants to donate goods rather than money, don't assume your existing approval covers it — check first.

Donations that aren't tax-deductible at all

Not every gift your organisation receives can carry a tax-deductible receipt, and that's not a failure on your part — it's simply outside subsection 44(6)'s scope. A donation is not deductible if: your organisation has no current 44(6) (or equivalent) approval at all; the gift went to a fund or project your approval doesn't cover; or the "gift" was really payment for something — a meal, a ticket, a tablet, a service — rather than a genuine donation, which is exactly the reciprocal-benefit test in §3.4 above ^[2]. You can and should still issue an ordinary receipt for these as proof of payment — it's the tax-deductible framing that doesn't apply.

Practical tips:

• Be plain with donors when a gift isn't tax-deductible, rather than let them assume every receipt from your organisation qualifies.
• If your organisation has never applied for 44(6) approval, that's a separate question worth resolving on its own — see What is subsection 44(6) approval and how do we get it?

The donor who lost their receipt

By the time e-Filing season arrives, some donors will have misplaced a receipt from months earlier and need it back quickly. That's an operational question, not a compliance risk on its own — but whatever you send back must carry the same receipt number and details as the original. A fresh, differently-numbered receipt for the same gift is what turns a simple request into a genuine numbering problem.

Practical tips:

• Have a fast, repeatable way to look up any past donation by donor name, phone, email or identity number, so a March phone call doesn't turn into an afternoon of searching.
• If a mistake on the original receipt needs correcting (a misspelled name, a wrong amount), fix the underlying record and reissue under the same number — don't create a second, competing receipt for one gift.

e-Invoices and your receipt — the short version

If your organisation holds 44(6) approval, LHDN's e-Invoice rules apply to the donations you receive too ^{[2, §4.10]}. Organisations below the e-Invoice exemption threshold keep issuing the preprinted receipt above; once income reaches it, e-Invoicing starts from 1 January of the second year after ^{[2, §4.10(c)–(d)]}. The 44(6) guideline states that threshold as RM500,000, but it does so by pointing to paragraph 1.6 of the general e-Invoice Guideline — and that paragraph has since been revised upward, so don't rely on the RM500,000 figure. The current threshold, and the worship-only carve-out, are in Do we need an e-Invoice for a donation, or is our LHDN receipt still enough?, which this article won't re-derive. See Do we need an e-Invoice for a donation, or is our LHDN receipt still enough? for the full detail.

What donors need to keep for their own records

A donor doesn't file their receipt with LHDN when they claim the deduction — they simply keep it. Under sections 82 and 82A of the Income Tax Act 1967, a taxpayer must keep sufficient records to substantiate what they claimed for seven years from the end of the relevant year of assessment ^[4] — a general duty covering all supporting documents, donation receipts included, not a donation-specific rule.

Practical tips:

• Tell donors, gently, that the receipt you send them is their own record to keep — you can usually get them a copy back later, but it's faster for everyone if they hold onto the original.
• Keep your own copy of everything you issue for at least as long — your organisation may need to answer the same question LHDN could put to the donor.

What this means for your organisation

1. Confirm your 44(6) (or equivalent) approval is current, and know exactly which fund(s) and purposes it covers — before you promise anyone a tax-deductible receipt.
2. Check every receipt against LHDN's §4.9 checklist (organisation name/address, unique preprinted number, date, full donor particulars, amount, collector's position, the fixed approval-reference footer) — then against your own approval letter for anything specific to you.
3. Never issue a receipt to a donor who hasn't supplied their full name and identity details, and never for a fund your approval doesn't name.
4. Keep receipt numbers sequential and never reused. A gap or duplicate is the first thing an auditor or LHDN checks.
5. Treat in-kind gifts as a separate question — they don't automatically qualify under a 44(6) money-gift approval.
6. Be upfront when a gift isn't tax-deductible, and still issue an ordinary receipt as proof of payment.
7. Build a fast way to reissue a lost receipt under its original number, ready for March–April e-Filing season.