More than 99,000 employers to get S$840 million in Wage Credit Scheme payouts by end-March

SINGAPORE: By the top of March, S$840 million in payouts will probably be given to greater than 99,000 employers in Singapore, as a part of the ultimate tranche of payouts underneath the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS), stated the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) on Tuesday (Mar 22). 

In a media launch, MOF and IRAS stated the upcoming payout will see the Government co-fund 15 per cent of qualifying wage will increase given in 2021, 2020 and 2019 to greater than 780,000 Singaporean staff incomes a gross month-to-month wage of as much as S$5,000.

This will profit greater than 99,000 employers, they stated. 

Introduced in 2013, the WCS was intially a three-year initiative to assist companies of their transformation and share productiveness good points with staff.

It was later prolonged, most just lately at Budget 2021, with the purpose of supporting increments to “help companies build up their local workforce and emerge stronger from COVID-19”.

To qualify for the upcoming tranche, employers should have given their staff a pay rise of at the least S$50 or have sustained the wage improve of at the least S$50 beforehand given to staff in 2019 and 2020.

More than S$2 billion in wage credit was disbursed in 2020 and 2021 to assist employers in the course of the pandemic, MOF and IRAS stated. 

“Employers do not need to apply to receive the payouts. Eligible employers will be notified by Mar 31, 2022 informing them of their payout amount,” they stated, noting payouts will probably be credited on to employers’ registered financial institution accounts by means of PayNow Corporate or GIRO.

“Any appeals regarding WCS payouts must be submitted to IRAS by Jun 30, 2022, and will be considered on a case-by-case basis,” they added. 

Employers with out GIRO or PayNow Corporate may have their payouts retained till they’ve efficiently registered for both scheme. 

Unclaimed payouts will probably be retained within the employers’ WCS account till Sep 30 this yr, and employers will not be eligible to say the payouts after that, stated MOF and IRAS.