GSTV – Cash, Rebates, CDC Vouchers and MediSave Top-Up for Singaporeans in January and February 2023

I. GSTV – U-Save and S&CC Rebate

        About 950,000 Singaporean households living in HDB flats will receive GST Voucher (GSTV) – U-Save and Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) rebates in January 2023. These rebates are part of the permanent GST Voucher (GSTV) scheme and the Assurance Package (AP) for GST, to help defray GST and other living expenses for lower- to middle-income Singaporean households. The rebates are disbursed in April, July, October, and January each year, and this is the fourth quarterly tranche for FY2022.

U-Save

2       In FY2022, eligible households receive double their regular U-Save rebates. This amounts 

to about 8 to 10 months’ worth of utility bills for the average household living in 1- and 2-room HDB flats, and about 4 to 6 months’ worth of utility bills for the average household living in 3- and 4-room HDB flats.

3       The GSTV – U-Save rebates that eligible households receive in FY2022 are summarised in Table 1. The GSTV – U-Save rebates are credited directly into households’ utilities account managed by SP Services. Households do not need to take any action to benefit from the rebates.

Notes :

1. Households with no Singapore citizen flat owner or occupier in the flat, or whose members own more than one property are not eligible for GSTV – U-Save.

2. Additional rebates are credited to eligible households at the same time as the regular GSTV – U-Save in the usual four quarters (April 2022, July 2022, October 2022, and January 2023).

3. The AP U-Save will be provided in specific quarters starting from January 2023 and ending in January 2026.

S&CC Rebate

4       The GSTV – S&CC rebates that households receive in FY2022 are summarised in Table 2. The GSTV – S&CC rebates are credited directly into households’ S&CC accounts managed by their respective Town Councils. Households do not need to take any action to benefit from the rebates.

Notes :

1. Eligible households would have received / will receive the GSTV – S&CC rebates in April 2022, July 2022, October 2022, and January 2023.

2. Households with no Singapore citizen flat owner or occupier in the flat, whose flat owner(s) or essential occupier(s) own or have any interest in a private property, or have rented out the entire flat, are not eligible for the GSTV – S&CC rebates.

II. Household Utilities Credit

5       In addition to the GSTV – U-Save and S&CC rebates for eligible households, every Singaporean household would also have received a one-off $100 Household Utilities Credit (HUC) by September 2022. The HUC is part of the $1.5 billion package announced in June 2022 to help Singaporeans cope with higher inflation.

III. Community Development Council (CDC) Vouchers, GSTV – Cash (Seniors’ Bonus) and Assurance Package MediSave

6       On top of the GSTV – U-Save and S&CC rebates in January 2023, eligible Singaporeans will receive the following benefits in the upcoming months of January and February 2023.

1. On 3 January 2023, every Singaporean household will receive a total of $300 CDC Vouchers. This comprises $200 CDC Vouchers under the AP and $100 CDC Vouchers from the $1.5 billion Support Package announced in October 2022. The CDC Vouchers can be used at participating heartland merchants and hawkers, and supermarkets. More details will be announced by the CDCs soon. 

2. In February 2023, lower-income senior Singaporeans aged 55 years and above will receive up to $300 cash, under the GSTV – Cash (Seniors’ Bonus).

3. In February 2023, eligible senior Singaporeans aged 55 years and above, and Singaporean children aged 20 years and below will receive $150 in their CPF MediSave Account under the AP MediSave.

7       The details of these upcoming benefits are in the 

Annex

.

Digital Mode of Payment and Notification

Go Digital to Receive Cash Benefits Sooner

Citizens are encouraged to link their NRIC to PayNow by 24 January 2023 to receive their GSTV – Cash (Seniors’ Bonus) from as early as 3 February 2023. Please contact your bank for more details on how to do so. For those without PayNow-NRIC, it will be disbursed via the bank account provided to the Government from 13 February 2023.

GovCash has Replaced Cheques as Mode of Payment

From 2022, GovCash has replaced cheques as the mode of payment to citizens who have not linked their NRICs to PayNow or provided their bank account details. Citizens on GovCash can withdraw their GSTV – Cash (Seniors’ Bonus) at OCBC ATMs islandwide by entering their 1) Payment Reference Number (PRN) that will be sent to them from 15 February 2023, and 2) NRIC, and after passing the facial verification. They do not require an OCBC bank account to withdraw the payment at the OCBC ATMs. Citizens who require assistance with the withdrawal due to their medical condition can visit the Assurance Package website (

go.gov.sg/ap-govcash

) for more information. GovCash recipients can also use the LifeSG app to make payment to merchants by scanning their PayNow or NETS QR code, or transfer payments to their bank accounts via PayNow if they subsequently register for PayNow-NRIC.

Singpass App as a Mode of Notification

Eligible recipients will be notified in February 2023 after the GSTV – Cash (Seniors’ Bonus) and AP MediSave have been credited to them, either via their Singpass app or SMS notifications for those who have registered their mobile numbers with Singpass, but have not downloaded nor completed their one-time setup of the Singpass app.

To guard against scams, the SMS notification (sent by “MOF”) will only inform citizens of their benefits. Citizens will not be asked to reply to the SMS, click any links, or provide any information to the sender. There will not be any messages relating to AP sent via WhatsApp or other mobile app messaging platforms. Citizens are encouraged to download the Singpass app from the official app stores (e.g. App Store, Play Store or Huawei AppGallery and to check that the app is developed by “Government Technology Agency”) to receive secured notifications from the Government.

More Information

8       For more information on the above schemes, please contact the following parties:

***

Issued by Ministry of Finance

Singapore

30 December 2022