Bosses must make CPF contributions by Jan 14 to get WCS payouts
Employers must make full Central Provident Fund contributions for eligible Singaporean workers by Jan 14 to get the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) payouts in March.
They must have raised the gross monthly wages of Singaporean employees by at least $50 this year, or maintained the previous wage rise of at least $50 from last year, or both, to qualify for the sixth tranche of the payouts.
The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in a joint statement yesterday that employers need not apply to receive the WCS payouts.
Iras will inform them by March if they are eligible, and payouts will be credited directly into bank accounts or cheques will be issued.
Employers registered with PayNow Corporate will receive their payouts in their registered bank accounts.
Employers not on the direct crediting modes are encouraged to sign up for them by Jan 14.
DBS Bank projects that about 50,000 small and medium-sized enterprises will sign up for PayNow Corporate by the end of next year.
PayNow Corporate, which was launched in August, allows businesses and the Government to instantly pay and receive money using the organisations' unique entity numbers.
The seven banks involved in PayNow Corporate are DBS Bank/POSB, United Overseas Bank, OCBC Bank, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank and Standard Chartered Bank.
The WCS began as a three-year initiative from 2013 to support business embarking on transformation efforts and to encourage the sharing of productivity gains with workers. It has extended till 2020.
For 2018, the Government will co-fund 20 per cent of pay rises to Singaporeans earning a gross monthly wage of up to $4,000.
The percentage of co-funding will drop to 15 per cent in 2019 and 10 per cent in 2020.
Anyone caught abusing the scheme can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined, Iras and MOF warned.
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