Myanmar Personal Income Tax (PIT) Guide 2026 — Brackets, Reliefs, and Month-by-Month Calculations

The four moving parts of Myanmar PIT

1. Gross salary income — everything paid by your employer in a tax year: basic salary, allowances, bonuses, benefits in kind.
2. Personal / basic relief — a % deduction from gross salary, widely reported at 20% (subject to a cap).
3. Personal allowances — fixed deductions for the taxpayer's dependents (spouse, children, parents).
4. Progressive brackets — the remaining "taxable income" is taxed in tiers from 0% to 25%.

Your PIT withheld each month is the annual PIT divided by 12 (approximately), adjusted at year-end when the annual return is filed.

The current PIT brackets (Union Tax Law 2025-2026)

1 Lakh (L) = 100,000 MMK — a common Myanmar payroll notation.

Source: QHRM Myanmar Tax Calculator — matches the current Union Tax Law brackets applied by QHRM's payroll engine for 2025-2026. Note: some secondary sources (PwC, Charltons Myanmar) still show the pre-October 2021 bracket structure (capped at 30M for the 25% tier). The table above reflects the current brackets in use.

Plus the statutory basic exemption: no tax is due on total salary income up to MMK 4,800,000/year (MMK 400,000/month). This applies before the progressive bracket calculation.

Personal reliefs and allowances

Source: PwC Myanmar Tax Summaries — Deductions.

Residency rule: For salary income, "resident" generally means present in Myanmar for 183 days or more in the tax year, plus Myanmar citizens. Non-residents are taxed at the same progressive rates on Myanmar-source income, but cannot take personal reliefs.

Step-by-step: how to compute monthly PIT

Step 1 — Project annual gross salary income

Annual gross = Monthly gross salary × 12 + expected bonuses + benefits in kind

Step 2 — Subtract basic relief

Taxable base = Annual gross − (20% × Annual gross)   [subject to any cap]

Step 3 — Subtract personal allowances

Taxable income = Taxable base − Spouse allowance − Child allowance(s) − Parent allowance(s)

Step 4 — Check the MMK 4.8M exemption threshold

If Annual gross ≤ 4,800,000 → no tax due

Step 5 — Apply progressive brackets

Compute tax tier by tier and sum.

Step 6 — Divide by 12 for monthly PIT to withhold

Monthly PIT = Annual PIT ÷ 12

Worked Example 1 — Single employee, MMK 500,000/month

Thant is unmarried, no dependents.

Annual gross        = 500,000 × 12 = 6,000,000
Basic relief (20%)  = 1,200,000
Taxable base        = 4,800,000
Personal allowances = 0
Taxable income      = 4,800,000

Apply brackets to MMK 4,800,000:

First 2,000,000      × 0%  = 0
Next  2,800,000      × 5%  = 140,000   (taxable income is within the 5% band, which extends to MMK 10M)
Annual PIT           = 140,000
Monthly PIT withheld = 140,000 ÷ 12 ≈ 11,667 MMK

Thant's monthly net salary (before SSB): 500,000 − 11,667 = MMK 488,333.

Worked Example 2 — Married with one child, MMK 1,500,000/month

Khin Khin has a non-working spouse and one dependent child.

Annual gross        = 1,500,000 × 12 = 18,000,000
Basic relief (20%)  = 3,600,000
Taxable base        = 14,400,000
Spouse allowance    = 1,000,000
Child allowance     = 500,000
Taxable income      = 12,900,000

Apply brackets:

First 2,000,000     × 0%   = 0
Next  8,000,000     × 5%   = 400,000   (2M–10M band filled fully)
Next  2,900,000     × 10%  = 290,000   (10M–12.9M falls in the 10% band)
Annual PIT          = 690,000
Monthly PIT         = 57,500 MMK

Khin Khin's monthly net salary (before SSB): 1,500,000 − 57,500 = MMK 1,442,500.

Worked Example 3 — Senior employee, MMK 3,500,000/month

Zaw has a working spouse (no spouse allowance), two dependent children, and one dependent parent.

Annual gross        = 3,500,000 × 12 = 42,000,000
Basic relief (20%)  = 8,400,000       (under the MMK 10M cap)
Taxable base        = 33,600,000
Spouse allowance    = 0
Child allowance     = 500,000 × 2 = 1,000,000
Parent allowance    = 1,000,000
Taxable income      = 31,600,000

Apply brackets:

First 2,000,000     × 0%   = 0
Next  8,000,000     × 5%   = 400,000       (2M–10M band)
Next  20,000,000    × 10%  = 2,000,000     (10M–30M band)
Next  1,600,000     × 15%  = 240,000       (30M–31.6M falls in 15% band)
Annual PIT          = 2,640,000
Monthly PIT         = 220,000 MMK

Zaw's monthly net salary (before SSB): 3,500,000 − 220,000 = MMK 3,280,000.

Note: The three worked examples above assume the 20% basic relief does not hit the MMK 10,000,000 annual cap. The cap binds only when annual salary income exceeds MMK 50,000,000/year (20% of 50M = 10M). For very high earners, basic relief is fixed at MMK 10,000,000 — recalculate accordingly.

All three examples match the calculations produced by the QHRM Myanmar Tax Calculator.

Employer obligations for PIT

1. Withhold PIT monthly from each employee's salary.
2. Remit to the IRD by the 15th of the following month. (Same deadline as SSB.)
3. File the annual return within 3 months of the tax year end (the Myanmar tax year runs 1 April – 31 March, so the annual filing is typically by 30 June).
4. Issue the employee's annual PIT certificate so they can, if needed, file their own return.
5. Maintain payroll records for at least 7 years — the IRD can audit back multiple years.

The 5 most common PIT mistakes

1. Not grossing up bonuses correctly. One-off bonuses can push an employee into a higher bracket for that month. Use an annualized approach, not month-by-month bracket math.
2. Forgetting to apply the MMK 4.8M exemption first. Applying brackets directly without the exemption check over-taxes low earners.
3. Stacking the 20% basic relief on an already-net figure. Basic relief applies to the gross annual income, once.
4. Granting allowances without proof. For spouse / parent allowances, the employee needs to supply supporting documentation. The IRD has the right to ask.
5. Under-withholding in early months and trying to catch up in December/March. This is legal but creates huge PIT deductions in the final month. Even out withholding from month one.

How QHRM handles PIT

Our Myanmar payroll engine:

• Applies the latest UTL bracket table and basic relief rate automatically on every payroll run
• Stores each employee's declared allowances (spouse, child, parent) and re-applies them
• Handles bonuses via annualized projection so you don't shock a high earner with an April tax spike
• Generates ready-to-submit PIT schedules for the 15th-of-month remittance to the IRD
• Produces the annual PIT certificate for each employee at year-end

Want to see a worked run on your real payroll numbers? Book a 20-minute QHRM demo — bring a sample employee and we'll calculate the monthly PIT live.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Is there a separate social security tax on top of PIT? Yes — SSB is 3% employer / 2% employee, capped at MMK 300,000 salary base. It is separate from PIT. See our SSB Contribution Rates 2026 guide.

Q: Do foreign employees in Myanmar pay PIT? Resident foreigners (183+ days in Myanmar) pay PIT on their worldwide income at the same progressive rates, and may claim standard personal reliefs. Non-resident foreigners pay progressive rates on Myanmar-source income only, without personal reliefs.

Q: Are expatriate housing and school allowances taxable in Myanmar? Generally yes — benefits in kind are part of gross salary income for PIT purposes. Some structuring is possible under expat packages; take advice before designing the package.

Q: When is the Myanmar tax year? 1 April to 31 March. The 2025-2026 tax year runs 1 April 2025 – 31 March 2026.

Q: What happens if we under-withhold PIT? The employer is liable for the under-withheld amount, plus penalty. Correct promptly when identified.

Next steps

Sources

• QHRM Myanmar Tax Calculatorqhrm.io
• PwC Myanmar Tax Summaries — Deductionstaxsummaries.pwc.com
• DFDL — Key Changes under Myanmar's 2026 Union Tax Lawdfdl.com
• DFDL — Key Changes under Myanmar's 2025 Union Tax Lawdfdl.com
• VDB-Loi Myanmar Tax Booklet 2025-2026vdb-loi.com
• PwC Myanmar — Tax Administrationtaxsummaries.pwc.com

Note on secondary sources: Some widely-cited Myanmar tax summaries (including PwC's personal income tax page and Charltons Myanmar) still publish the pre-October 2021 bracket structure (capped at MMK 30M for the 25% tier). Always cross-check any bracket table against the current Union Tax Law and QHRM's in-product calculator before citing.