Nowadays, apart from the traditional career roles being a businessman, entrepreneur, or employee, there are more and more people working as self-employed, or working with broker/agent on a profit-sharing basis, including but not limited to the following roles:
- Freelancer
- Coach, instructor, consultant, ...
- Online sellers
- E-commerce drop-shipper
- Commission-based sales agent (insurance, property, unit trust, MLM, ...)
- Artist, actor, singer, magician, comedian, dancer, stage performer, ...
- Photographer, videographer, composer, writer, translator, self-media, ...
- Youtuber, Instagrammer, TikToker, social media influencer, ...
- Hawker
- Farmer
- Fisherman
- Taxi/Grab driver
- Delivery man
- Nanny, babysitter
- ...
If you do not have an Employees Provident Fund (EPF, a.k.a. KWSP) account that is compulsory for all employed persons in Malaysia, you have the option to open one under the i-Saraan voluntary EPF contribution scheme.
Other than the roles above, i-Saraan is also currently opened for application to:
- Retired government servant under pension scheme
- Housewife
The benefits of having an i-Saraan account include:
- Savings for your future retirement avenue
- Receive additional government special incentive of 15% of your contribution, up to RM250 annually. This annual incentive is given to members below 55 years old, from 2018 until 2022, with the possibility to extend further.
- Earn annual EPF dividend
- Enjoy personal income tax relief up to RM4,000 for each assessment year
- Incapacitation benefit of RM5,000 for withdrawal under the reason of incapacitation
- Death (before age of 60) benefit of RM2,500
There is no specific payment schedule for i-Saraan. You can contribute to your account at any time you wish. The maximum contribution per year is up to RM60,000.
Contribution can be made via online bank transfer, bank counters (Maybank, Public Bank, RHB Bank, BSN) and EPF counters.
Persons who already have an EPF account can also make EPF contribution under a separate scheme called Caruman Pilihan Sendiri (Self-Contribution).
The benefits under the self-contribution scheme are the same as this one, but it is without the 15% government additional special incentive (up to RM250 annually).
