S$840m in wage credits to be disbursed to over 99,000 employers by end-March

THE final tranche of payouts under the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) will be paid out by end-March 2022, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) on Tuesday (Mar 22).

Under the WCS, S$840 million in payouts will be disbursed to over 99,000 employers in Singapore. They do not need to apply to receive the payouts.

Instead, eligible employers will be notified of their payout amount by Mar 31 and have their payouts credited directly to their accounts through PayNow Corporate or GIRO. Any appeals regarding the payouts must be submitted to Iras by Jun 30, MOF and Iras said.

For this upcoming payout, the Singapore government will co-fund 15 per cent of qualifying wage increases given in 2021, 2020 and 2019 to more than 780,000 Singaporean employees earning a gross monthly wage of up to S$5,000.

The government extended the WCS by 1 year for Budget 2021 to help companies build up their local workforce and "emerge stronger from Covid-19" by supporting wage increments.

Over S$2 billion in wage credits were disbursed in 2020 and 2021 to support employers during the pandemic.

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