Employers to Receive Next Tranche of Wage Credit Scheme Payouts in March 2022

To support businesses in transformation and share productivity gains with workers, eligible employers can look forward to the next tranche of Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March 2022. To qualify, they will have to pay the mandatory CPF contributions on 2021 wages for their qualifying employees to the CPF Board by 14 January 2022.

2.    Over $2 billion in wage credits had been disbursed to support employers during the pandemic so far. This included $940 million in WCS payouts disbursed to more than 98,000 employers in March 2021.

3.    The payouts in March 2022 are for qualifying wage increases in 2021. Employers do not need to apply for WCS payouts. Eligible employers will automatically be notified by end-March 2022 of the amount of WCS payouts to be received.

4.    To qualify for the upcoming tranche of the WCS payouts, employers must:

(a)   Have given Singapore Citizen employees who earned a gross monthly wage of up to $5,000, a gross monthly wage increase of at least $50 in 2021, and/or have sustained the gross monthly wage increase (at least $50) previously given to employees in 2019 and/or 2020;

and

(b)  Have paid the employees’ mandatory CPF contributions on 2021 wages to the CPF Board by 14 January 2022[1].

Full Digital Payment

5.    The March 2022 payouts will be credited directly to employers’ registered bank accounts through PayNow Corporate[2] or GIRO[3]. Employers who have not already set up a PayNow Corporate account or register for GIRO are advised to do so by end-February 2022 to receive their payouts by end-March 2022.

6.    Please refer to the Annex for details on the WCS. For more information, you may visit the IRAS website (www.iras.gov.sg/irasHome/wcs.aspx), contact IRAS at 1800-352-4727 or email wcs@iras.gov.sg.

Issued by:
Ministry of Finance
Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
17 December 2021

[1] The due date for CPF contributions is on the last day of the calendar month. Enforcement action would be taken against employers who fail to pay by the 14th of the following month (or the next working day if the 14th falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Public Holiday). This includes imposing late payment interest charged at 1.5% per month commencing from the first day after the due date.

[2] Companies can sign up for PayNow Corporate by linking their company’s UEN (without suffix) to their bank account via internet banking. For assistance, please approach the bank.

[3] Once registered for GIRO for Income Tax/GST, this will be the default payment mode for IRAS’ related transactions such as tax payments.