Landlords have spent two years being told they must start issuing e-Invoices for rent. For most of them, that is not true. The obligation usually falls on the tenant, not the owner, and the document is a self-billed e-Invoice rather than an ordinary one.
The confusion is understandable, because the rule turns on a phrase LHDN never defines in a single line: whether the landlord is conducting a business. This guide works through that test, then shows exactly who issues what in each scenario, including co-owned property and utility recharges.
Key Takeaways
- An individual landlord who is not conducting a business does not issue an e-Invoice. If the tenant is a business, the tenant issues a self-billed e-Invoice for the rent.
- A landlord who is conducting a business — a company, or an individual whose letting is a business activity — issues a normal e-Invoice to the tenant.
- Where a property has several individual co-owners, the tenant issues a separate self-billed e-Invoice to each owner, based on their agreed proportion.
- Utilities billed in the landlord’s name but paid by the tenant are included in whichever document applies, rather than documented separately.
- Taxpayers with annual turnover or revenue below RM1,000,000 are currently exempt from issuing e-Invoices, including self-billed ones.
Who Actually Issues the e-Invoice for Rent?
LHDN answers this directly. Where the individual landlord is conducting a business, an e-Invoice must be issued to the tenant. Where the individual landlord is not conducting a business, the tenant — if the tenant is a business — issues a self-billed e-Invoice for the rental of the property ().
When Is a Landlord “Conducting a Business”?
There is no bright line in the guidelines, but LHDN’s own worked example is instructive. A primary school teacher who inherited vacant land and rents it to an enterprise, providing no maintenance or support services, is treated as an individual not conducting a business — so the tenant assumes the role of Supplier and issues the self-billed e-Invoice ().
The signals that push the other way are familiar from income tax practice: multiple units let systematically, ancillary services such as cleaning, security, or maintenance, staff or agents engaged, and the activity run with commercial organisation. Companies and LLPs holding property are always on the business side of the line.
Where you land changes the paperwork, not the tax. Rental income remains assessable either way.
How a Business Landlord Issues the e-Invoice
Issue it as you would any other e-Invoice, with yourself as Supplier and the tenant as Buyer. Rent is usually periodic, so the natural rhythm is one e-Invoice per rental period in line with the tenancy agreement.
For an individual tenant, LHDN allows the buyer’s TIN field to be completed with the TIN alone, the MyKad or MyTentera number alone, or both. The tenant’s residential address and contact number are required, and “NA” goes into the SST registration field where the tenant is not SST registered.
How a Business Tenant Issues a Self-Billed e-Invoice
The tenant assumes the role of Supplier and submits the document for validation, using the landlord’s details in the supplier fields. Once validated, the tenant is obliged to share it with the landlord, and a self-billed e-Invoice submitted through the MyInvois Portal carries a QR code the landlord can use to confirm its status.
Two points worth building into your process:
Co-owned property means multiple documents. In LHDN’s example, a company renting an office owned by three individuals who do not conduct business must issue separate self-billed e-Invoices to each owner, based on the proportion agreed between them. One consolidated document naming all three is not compliant.
Keep the tenancy agreement. The signed agreement is the evidence connecting the self-billed e-Invoice to the amount, the period, and the ownership split.
Across a portfolio, the per-owner splits and monthly cycles are exactly the kind of repetitive work worth automating. An can generate the recurring self-billed documents rather than leaving them to a manual calendar reminder.
What About Utilities and Service Charges?
Where the tenant cannot get utility bills issued in its own name, LHDN’s position is that the utilities the tenant pays should be included in the landlord’s e-Invoice if the landlord is conducting a business, or in the tenant’s self-billed e-Invoice if the landlord is not. Recharged utilities do not get their own separate treatment; they ride on the rental document.
What If Neither Party Is a Business?
Nothing is required. An individual renting a room to another individual sits outside the system entirely, since individuals not conducting a business are among the persons exempted from issuing e-Invoices, including self-billed ones. The same exemption covers taxpayers with annual turnover or revenue below RM1,000,000, so a very small business tenant may also have no obligation to self-bill.
Failure to issue where the obligation does exist is an offence under Section 120(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act 1967, carrying a fine of RM200 to RM20,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both, per non-compliance. Businesses in the phases dated 1 January 2026 and 1 July 2026 sit inside an interim relaxation period to 31 December 2027, during which consolidated self-billed e-Invoices are accepted for all self-billed circumstances.
Frequently Asked Questions
My tenant is asking me for an e-Invoice. Do I have to provide one?
Only if you are conducting a business. If you are an individual landlord who is not, the correct answer is that your tenant issues a self-billed e-Invoice and shares it with you.
Can I issue one self-billed e-Invoice covering a full year of rent?
Not as standard practice, though consolidation is permitted for self-billed circumstances during the interim relaxation period applicable to your phase.
Does the security deposit need an e-Invoice?
A refundable deposit is not rental income. Treat it separately from rent, and document any portion later forfeited as it is applied.
What if my landlord is overseas?
That is a cross-border transaction. The Malaysian tenant issues a self-billed e-Invoice using the general foreign supplier TIN where none is provided.
Settle the Landlord’s Status First
Every rental e-Invoice question resolves once you answer one thing: is the landlord conducting a business? Get that on record at the start of the tenancy, write it into your onboarding checklist, and neither side wastes time chasing a document the other was never required to issue.
If you hold property through a company, assume you are issuing. If you hold it personally and passively, expect your business tenant to self-bill.
