Over $600m of wage credits to benefit 90,000 Singapore employers

About 70% will be disbursed to SMEs.

More than $600m worth of payouts will be released under the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) by 31 March, a joint announcement by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) revealed. The amount will benefit more than 90,000 employers, wherein 70% will be disbursed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The payouts which will be given in March allows the government to co-fund 20% of qualifying wage increases given in 2017 and 2018 to more than 600,000 Singaporean employees, the announcement noted.

Employers do not need to go through an application process for the WCS payouts as eligible employers will receive letters from the IRAS by 31 March informing them of the amount of WCS payouts to be received. The payouts will be credited directly into employers’ company’s GIRO bank accounts used for Income Tax and GST, or their bank accounts registered with PayNow Corporate.

Meanwhile, employers who are not on GIRO or PayNow Corporate will receive the payouts by cheque through ordinary mail. Those who wish to appeal regarding WCS payouts must submit relevant documents to IRAS by 30 June 2019 and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Unveiled in 2013, the WCS was initially a three-year scheme, supporting wage increases made over 2013 to 2015 and was extended for two more years. In Budget 2018, it was announced that the WCS will be further extended until 2020 to boost support on businesses.