Govt hands out $900 mln jobs credit to employers

More than 100,000 employers, employing about 1.4 million local workers, will receive $900 million from the fourth payment of Jobs Credit by 24 December 2009.

After the fourth payment, the government will have given out $3.6 Billion credit in total.Eligible employers will receive a notification letter by 22 December 2009 from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). The letter will inform them of the amount of Jobs Credit they will receive.

The Jobs Credit Scheme was introduced as part of the Resilience Package in Budget 2009 in response to the global economic crisis. The scheme will cease after two more scaled-down payments in March and June 2010. The two additional payments, which will cost $675m, will be at stepped down rates as follows: the March payment will give out only 6% of employees’ salary (those on the payroll in January 2010), the June payment will give out 3% of salary of employees on the payroll in April 2010.

The first additional payment to be made in March 2010 will be computed based on employees on the CPF payroll for the month of January 2010. Employers must make their CPF contributions for October to December 2009 in order to qualify for this first extended payment of Jobs Credit. They have up to 14 February 2010 to do so.

The fourth payment of Jobs Credit will be computed based on employees on the CPF payroll for the month of October 2009, and the wages paid to these employees from July to September 2009.