Most of the e-invoice conversation in Malaysia has been about sending: getting your sales invoices validated by LHDN through MyInvois. E-invoice receiving gets far less attention, yet for a trading company that buys from 200 suppliers, the incoming side can be the bigger daily job. Every validated supplier e-invoice has to be checked, matched to what you ordered and received, and posted to the right accounts, often within a short time window.
This guide is for finance managers and business owners on the buyer side. We explain what you actually receive, what you need to check, the 72 hour window for rejecting a wrong e-invoice, how credit and debit notes fit in, and how an ERP takes most of the manual work out of it.
Why E-Invoice Receiving Matters Now
The volume is already large. In October 2026 LHDN said it had received more than 2.09 billion e-invoices from more than 269,000 taxpayers since e-invoicing began, and that data analytics is now built into the system to analyse taxpayers' financial profiles as invoices are submitted (Bernama, 21 October 2026). In plain terms, LHDN can now see both sides of a transaction. If your purchase records do not match what your suppliers submitted, that gap is visible.
Two other points from the same announcement are worth knowing. The exemption threshold has been raised from RM1 million to RM3 million in annual turnover, which we explained in our post on the RM3 million e-invoice exemption. And the e-Invoice Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme, with a full penalty waiver, runs until 31 December 2027.
Here is the catch for buyers. Even if your own company is exempt from issuing e-invoices, your larger suppliers are not. You will still receive their e-invoices, and you still need your records to agree with them.
What a Buyer Actually Receives
When a supplier submits an e-invoice, MyInvois checks it and, if it passes, marks it as valid and gives it a unique identifier. As the buyer, you can then see that document in MyInvois under your Tax Identification Number. Most suppliers also send you a visual copy, usually a PDF with a QR code that links back to the validated record.
So in practice you may get the same invoice in two or three forms:
- The validated record in the MyInvois portal, or pulled into your system through the API.
- A PDF or printed copy from the supplier, which may arrive by email or with the goods.
- For some suppliers, a consolidated or self billed arrangement that you need to understand separately.
The validated record is the one that counts for tax purposes. The PDF is a convenience. A common mistake we see is accounts staff keying in purchase invoices from the PDF without ever checking that the validated record matches.
Make sure suppliers have your correct details
E-invoice receiving only works if suppliers put your correct TIN, registration number and address on their e-invoices. If they use an old TIN or your sister company's details, the document lands under the wrong buyer. Send every active supplier a short notice with your exact details, and keep them in your vendor master. Our article on e-invoice setup mistakes covers TIN errors in more detail.
The 72 Hour Rejection Window
This is the part buyers most often miss. According to the MyInvois SDK documentation, a buyer that received a document may reject it within 72 hours from the date and time it was marked valid. A few rules apply:
- A rejection is a request. The document becomes "Requested for Rejection", but it is still treated as valid until the supplier cancels it.
- You can reject a document only once. Give a clear reason, because the supplier will rely on it.
- The supplier cancels within the same window. Cancellation by the issuer is also limited to 72 hours from validation.
- After 72 hours, use adjustment documents. Once the window has passed, you have to ask the supplier to issue a credit note, debit note or refund note instead.
Seventy two hours sounds generous until you look at how invoices move in a busy company. An e-invoice validated at 5pm on Friday can expire before anyone in accounts opens it on Monday afternoon. If your process is to check purchase invoices once a week, you will almost never reject anything in time, and every error becomes a credit note conversation.
What to Check on Every Supplier E-Invoice
A buyer walks into our office with a stack of supplier invoices and asks what they should be looking at. Our answer is the same checks they already do for paper invoices, just faster:
| Check | What to look for | If it is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer details | Your TIN, registration number and company name are correct | Reject within 72 hours and ask for a corrected e-invoice |
| Purchase order | Items, quantities and prices match the PO you issued | Reject if within the window; otherwise request a credit or debit note |
| Goods receipt | Quantities invoiced match what the warehouse actually received | Hold payment and request a credit note for short delivery |
| Tax | SST or other tax amounts are correctly applied | Reject or request an adjustment document |
| Duplicates | The same delivery has not already been invoiced | Reject the duplicate within the window |
| Currency and totals | Currency, exchange rate and totals agree with the PO | Reject or request an adjustment document |
This is the classic three way match: purchase order, goods receipt and supplier invoice. What changes with e-invoicing is the clock. The match has to happen within days, not at month end.
Credit Notes, Debit Notes and Refund Notes
Most supplier corrections will not happen inside 72 hours, so you will receive plenty of adjustment documents. Each one refers back to the original e-invoice:
- Credit note: reduces the amount of the original invoice, for example returned goods, short delivery or a price correction in your favour.
- Debit note: increases the amount, for example an under charge or extra freight that was agreed.
- Refund note: records money the supplier pays back to you.
The risk is that these documents arrive weeks later and never get linked to the original purchase. Your payables ledger then shows the wrong balance, and your input records drift away from what the supplier reported to LHDN. Our older guide to e-invoice types explains each document type from the issuer's side.
When You Are the One Issuing: Self Billed E-Invoices
Receiving has one twist. For some purchases the buyer, not the supplier, must issue the e-invoice. These are self billed e-invoices, and they commonly apply to payments to foreign suppliers, to individuals who are not in business, and to certain other transactions set out in LHDN's guidelines. Check the current list in LHDN's latest guidelines before you decide, or ask us through our e-invoice integration page.
For self billed documents the roles flip. You submit the document, and you are the party that cancels it if something is wrong. Your ERP needs to treat these purchases differently from normal supplier invoices, or they will be missed.
Manual Receiving vs ERP Receiving
Small buyers with a handful of suppliers can manage through the MyInvois portal. Once you have dozens of suppliers and hundreds of invoices a month, manual receiving starts to break down.
| Area | Manual (portal and spreadsheets) | ERP based receiving |
|---|---|---|
| Getting documents | Staff log in to MyInvois and download or view documents | Validated documents are pulled into the system through the API |
| Matching | Compared by eye against PO and delivery records | Matched automatically to purchase orders and goods receipts |
| 72 hour window | Easy to miss, especially over weekends and holidays | New documents and exceptions are flagged as they arrive |
| Posting | Purchase invoice keyed in again | Draft purchase invoice created from the validated data |
| Adjustments | Credit notes filed separately and sometimes lost | Linked to the original invoice and supplier balance |
| Audit trail | Spread across email, portal and spreadsheets | One record per transaction with the validated reference |
We connect SAP Business One and SAP S/4HANA Cloud to MyInvois for both sending and receiving. The technical side, including tokens, document polling and rate limits, is covered in our MyInvois API integration guide.
A Practical Setup for Trading Companies
Trading companies feel this most because they buy constantly and margins are thin. A wrong price on a supplier invoice that slips through goes straight into your cost. This is the setup we recommend:
- Clean your supplier master. Every active supplier should have a correct TIN, registration number and the right e-invoice contact.
- Tell suppliers your details. Send each supplier your exact TIN and registration number, and ask them to quote your PO number on every e-invoice.
- Pull validated e-invoices daily. Whether by API or by someone checking the portal, make it a daily task, not weekly.
- Match against PO and goods receipt. Let the system flag differences in quantity, price or tax.
- Decide within 72 hours. Give one person clear authority to reject, so exceptions do not wait for a manager who is travelling.
- Link adjustments. Every credit or debit note should be tied to its original invoice before payment runs.
- Reconcile monthly. Compare purchases in your ERP with what MyInvois shows under your TIN, and investigate gaps.
None of this needs to be complicated. Distributors in particular already do most of this matching; see our guide to ERP for wholesale and distribution. If you are still deciding which system fits your size, our companion guide to SME ERP software in Malaysia compares the options honestly, including when simpler software such as AutoCount is enough.
Where Aspert Can Help
We have worked with Malaysian companies on SAP since 2011, and today we help clients with e-invoicing on both the sales and the purchase side. For e-invoice receiving, we typically review your purchasing process, set up the matching rules in SAP, connect to MyInvois and train your team on handling rejections and adjustments. If you only need help with the technical integration, or with ongoing system support through our IT outsourcing service, we can scope just that.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is e-invoice receiving?
E-invoice receiving is the buyer side of Malaysia's e-invoicing system. It covers getting validated e-invoices from suppliers through MyInvois, checking them against purchase orders and goods receipts, rejecting wrong ones in time, and posting the correct ones to your accounts. It matters even if your own company is exempt from issuing e-invoices.
How long does a buyer have to reject an e-invoice in Malaysia?
According to the MyInvois SDK documentation, a buyer can reject a received e-invoice within 72 hours from the time it was marked valid. The rejection is a request, and the document stays valid until the supplier cancels it. After 72 hours, the supplier must issue a credit note, debit note or refund note instead.
Do I need to receive e-invoices if my company is exempt?
Yes, in practice. The exemption covers issuing e-invoices for businesses below the RM3 million turnover threshold. Your suppliers who are not exempt will still issue validated e-invoices to you, and your purchase records should match what they submitted to LHDN. You may also still need to issue self billed e-invoices in some cases.
Can I still claim a purchase if the supplier only gave me a PDF?
Check whether the supplier is required to issue an e-invoice and whether a validated record exists in MyInvois under your TIN. The validated e-invoice is what counts for tax purposes. If a supplier who should issue e-invoices only sends a plain PDF, ask them for the validated version and confirm with your tax adviser.
What is the difference between rejecting and cancelling an e-invoice?
Rejection is done by the buyer and is only a request for the supplier to cancel. Cancellation is done by the issuer, either on their own or to accept a buyer's rejection, and is also limited to 72 hours after validation. For self billed e-invoices, the buyer is the issuer, so the buyer cancels.
Can SAP Business One receive e-invoices from MyInvois?
Yes, with the right integration. SAP Business One can be connected to MyInvois so validated supplier e-invoices are pulled in, matched to purchase orders and goods receipts, and turned into draft purchase invoices. Exceptions are flagged so your team can decide within the 72 hour rejection window.
Worried that supplier e-invoices are slipping past the 72 hour window? We can review how your team receives and matches e-invoices today and show you what to fix first.
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