HRD Corp Claimable Software: What KL Firms Can Claim in 2026

If you run a business in Kuala Lumpur and you pay the HRD Corp levy every month, you already have a training fund sitting there whether you touch it or not. So when a new CRM lands on your desk at RM300 to RM700 per user a month, the fair question is whether HRD Corp claimable software exists, or whether that levy can offset any of the cost. The honest answer is more useful than a flat yes or no, and it is not the same answer as the one for the MSME Digitalisation Grant.

This is written for the Klang Valley business owner or finance lead who is levy-registered and trying to work out what is genuinely claimable before signing anything.

Is CRM software HRD Corp claimable?

Short version: the software licence itself is not HRD Corp claimable, but the training that teaches your team to use it usually is.

HRD Corp funds the development of your people, not your tool stack. A CRM subscription is a software fee, so it does not qualify on its own. What can be claimed is instructor-led training, run by an HRD Corp Approved Training Provider and approved in the e-TRiS system before it starts, that upskills your staff. That includes onboarding your sales team onto a new CRM, or a sales and lead-conversion course that happens to use the CRM as its teaching tool.

So the useful reframe is this: you will not get HRD Corp to pay your monthly Yalla or HubSpot bill, but you may be able to claim the cost of properly training the team who has to live in it.

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What HRD Corp actually pays for

The main route for most Klang Valley SMEs is the SBL-Khas scheme (its full name is Skim Bantuan Latihan Khas, HRD Corp's own-choice training grant). It lets you design your own training roadmap, choose registered providers, and claim approved programme costs against the levy you already pay.

The levy is the money you are already parting with. As of 2026, the HRD Corp levy is set at 1% of each Malaysian employee's monthly wages for employers with 10 or more staff, and an optional 0.5% for employers with 5 to 9 staff (source: hrdcorp.gov.my). For a KL firm with 15 people on an average RM4,000 wage, that is roughly RM600 a month, or over RM7,000 a year, building up in a fund that is worth nothing to you if you never claim against it.

What you can and can't claim

The line that trips people up is the first one. Vendors sometimes imply the software is "HRD Corp claimable" when what they mean is that a training package sold alongside it is. Read which one you are actually being quoted.

How the SBL-Khas claim works, step by step

The process is unforgiving about timing, so the order matters more than the paperwork.

1. Confirm you are eligible. You must be registered and levy-contributing under the HRD Corp Act, and paid up. Employers with outstanding levy or interest cannot apply.
2. Pick an HRD Corp Approved Training Provider. Only programmes from a registered provider are claimable. A tool vendor is not automatically a provider.
3. Apply in e-TRiS before the training starts. Grant approval must come before the commencement date. Approve first, train second, or the claim fails.
4. Run the training and keep the evidence. You will need attendance records, the invoice, the training schedule or content, and the trainer profile.
5. Submit the claim within six months of the training completion date. Miss that window and the money is gone.

The 2026 rule changes you need to know

HRD Corp tightened the pre-training timing in 2026, and it changes how far ahead you have to plan.

Effective 15 June 2026, in-house training programmes can be conducted 14 days after grant approval, and the approved programme must commence within 90 calendar days after that 14-day period. Public training programmes can be conducted three days after grant approval between 15 June and 31 December 2026, and must also commence within 90 days (source: hrdcorp.gov.my, as of September 2026). In plain terms: apply earlier than you used to, and do not leave the actual training to the last week of the quarter.

Where this sits next to the MSME Digitalisation Grant

This is the part most KL owners get muddled, because they are two different pots for two different things.

The MSME Digitalisation Grant (Geran Digital MADANI) helps pay for the software itself, matching part of the cost of an eligible CRM up to RM5,000. HRD Corp does not touch software cost; it pays for training your people. We wrote a full breakdown of the software side in what Malaysian businesses can claim towards a CRM. The smart move is to stack them: use the digitalisation grant to bring down the licence cost, and SBL-Khas to fund the training that makes the rollout actually stick.

That second point matters more than it looks. A CRM that the team never learned to use is the most common way these projects quietly fail, which we unpacked in why CRM rollouts fall apart. Funded training is one of the few levers that changes the odds.

Where an AI CRM fits, honestly

Every CRM has an AI now. The only question is how much of your business it can reach. But whichever platform you land on, be clear-eyed about the funding.

To be honest about our own position: Yalla is not an HRD Corp Approved Training Provider, and a Yalla subscription is not itself an HRD Corp claimable item. If what you need is the software cost subsidised, the MSME Digitalisation Grant is your route, not HRD Corp. If what you need is your sales team trained to convert leads faster, that is where SBL-Khas, delivered by a registered provider, does its work, and the CRM is the environment the training happens in.

Yalla is the chat-native CRM where the AI does the work, not just the talking, which is exactly the kind of tool that benefits from proper onboarding rather than a login and good luck. Whether you fund that onboarding through HRD Corp depends on who delivers it and whether it is approved in e-TRiS first.

What to do this week

You do not need a consultant to take the first steps, and doing them now protects the timing later.

• Check your levy balance. Log into e-TRiS and see how much sits in your employer account. That number is the ceiling on what you can claim this year.
• Write down one outcome, not one course. "Cut our lead follow-up time" or "stop dropped enquiries on Monday mornings" is a better brief than "CRM training". It tells a provider what to design.
• Ask any provider for two things in writing: their HRD Corp registration and the specific programme's approval status. If they cannot give you both, it is not claimable, whatever the sales deck says.
• Apply before you book. Get the e-TRiS approval in first. The single most common reason a claim is rejected is training that started before it was approved.

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim my CRM subscription with HRD Corp?

No. HRD Corp funds training, not software licences, so a monthly CRM subscription is not a claimable item under SBL-Khas. What can be claimable is instructor-led training on that CRM, or a sales course that uses it, when it is delivered by an HRD Corp Approved Training Provider and approved in e-TRiS before it begins.

Who counts as an HRD Corp Approved Training Provider?

An organisation that has registered its training programmes with HRD Corp and had them approved for the claimable-courses scheme. A software vendor is not automatically a provider. Always confirm the provider and the specific programme are registered before you assume a course is claimable.

How much of the training cost does HRD Corp cover?

It depends on your approved programme and your available levy balance. Claimable items include the course fee, trainee allowance, consumable materials, and internet data of up to RM100 per group for remote online learning, all within HRD Corp's published limits. You are claiming against the levy your business has already contributed.

What is the difference between HRD Corp and the MSME Digitalisation Grant?

HRD Corp pays for training your employees; the MSME Digitalisation Grant helps pay for the software itself. They are separate schemes with separate applications, and a KL business can use both: the grant to lower the CRM licence cost, and SBL-Khas to fund the training around it.