Short answer: yes — if your annual sales are below RM50 million, your business is exempted from the new RM2,000 minimum wage when it takes effect in June 2027. But the exemption is not automatic. It depends on one document: a PMKS status certificate from SME Corp Malaysia.
What changes in June 2027
Tabling Budget 2027 on 9 October 2026, the Prime Minister announced the minimum wage rising from RM1,700 to RM2,000 a month from June 2027, covering more than four million workers.
For smaller firms, the key line is this: MSMEs with annual sales below RM50 million are exempted, to provide room for adjustment to business models.
There is a second wage number in the same announcement: a RM2,500 monthly minimum for semi-skilled workers and graduates. How “semi-skilled” will be defined, and from when, has not been published. Don’t build your payroll plan on it yet.
The requirement most owners will miss
The exemption is not automatic. Owners who want it are being directed to obtain a PMKS status certificate from SME Corp Malaysia:
- Application fee: RM100, with a 50% discount until 31 December 2026
- The certificate is not only for the wage exemption — banks look at your status and this certificate when you apply for financing, and it opens access to government support programmes
That is the single practical step between you and the exemption.
The exemption is not full protection
Here is the part worth being honest about.
If larger employers in your area raise wages, they pull from the same labour pool. Market wages move whether or not you are exempt.
SME Malaysia’s April 2026 survey found 76% of respondents significantly affected by higher fuel and energy costs, and 45% expecting cash-flow difficulty within three to six months.
Bank Negara Malaysia has also flagged that Malaysian SMEs are increasingly turning to short-term borrowing to keep operations running.
So the exemption buys you time. It does not fix your cost structure.
What to do before June 2027
- Check your annual sales against the RM50 million line. If you are close to it, get tax advice now.
- Apply for the PMKS status certificate — RM100, half price until 31 December.
- Calculate your true wage cost today: statutory contributions, overtime, staff turnover — not basic salary alone.
- Note the MSME tax cut from year of assessment 2027 — 14% on the first RM150,000 and 16% on the next band up to RM600,000, worth up to about RM6,000 a year. It helps. But RM6,000 means nothing if your cash flow is bleeding RM20,000 a month.
Structure before scale, systems before speed.
FAQ
When does the RM2,000 minimum wage start? June 2027.
Who is exempted? MSMEs with annual sales below RM50 million.
Is the exemption automatic? No. You must obtain a PMKS status certificate from SME Corp Malaysia.
What does the certificate cost? RM100, with a 50% discount until 31 December 2026.
Does my company tax change? For MSMEs, the corporate tax rate drops one percentage point from year of assessment 2027.
What about the RM2,500 minimum for graduates? No date yet. It is part of a new wage framework and the definitions have not been published.
If you cannot tell whether your business is constrained by cost structure or by sales, that is the first question I ask every owner I sit with. Often the answer is not more staff or more products — it is fixing the system you already have.
If you want to know where your business is actually stuck, message me for a business assessment I do myself.
— Datuk Wira Dr Azizan Osman
Sources: Budget 2027 (9 October 2026), SMEinfo Portal, SME Corp Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia reporting.