Tax residency in Malaysia: the 182-day rule
High confidenceReviewed in September 2026
The short answer
182days in calendar year
- Window
- Calendar year
- How it counts
- Any presence during the day
- Direction
- Reaching the threshold makes you resident
How the days are counted
182 days in the calendar year, not 183, and a part day counts as a whole day. The law has three more doors the counter cannot see: a short period linked to 182 consecutive days in the year before or after; 90 days in the year if you were resident or present 90 days in three of the four previous years; and being resident for the three previous years and the following one without setting foot in the country in between. That is why the count does not decide on its own.
The source
These count days the same way as Malaysia