SINGAPORE: About 1.5 million eligible adult Singaporeans will receive S$450 or S$850 in cash this August to help with their daily living expenses, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on July 4.
Singaporeans living in homes with an annual value of up to S$21,000 will receive $850. Those with homes valued between S$21,000 and S$25,000 will receive S$450.
“This means that all eligible recipients will receive an additional S$150 or S$100, as compared to last year,” MOF stated.
These payments will be distributed to Singaporeans aged 21 and above with assessable income of up to S$34,000 for the assessment year 2023. Individuals who own more than one property are not eligible for this payout.
Additionally, around 650,000 Singapore citizens aged 65 and above will receive up to S$450 credited to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) MediSave accounts in August.
These disbursements are part of the GST Voucher (GSTV) scheme, which aims to help lower- to middle-income Singaporeans manage the GST hike. The GST rate increased from 7 per cent to 8 per cent in January 2023 and further to 9 per cent at the start of 2024. The 2024 GSTV disbursements, announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in February 2023, will amount to S$1.4 billion, which is around S$200 million more than in 2023.
Those who have not yet enrolled in the GSTV Scheme can register via the govbenefits website by July 9. Those who register after this date but before June 20, 2025, will get their payments by the end of the next month.
The ministry advised citizens to link their NRIC to the PayNow funds transfer service by July 22. Doing so would enable them to receive their payments in early August. Twelve banks in Singapore, including DBS and UOB, are connected to PayNow.
Those without PayNow-NRIC linked bank accounts can update their bank details (with DBS/POSB, OCBC or UOB only) on the govbenefits website by July 26. Meanwhile, those receiving payments through GIRO will get them from August 12 onwards.
Eligible citizens who have not linked their NRICs to PayNow or provide valid bank account details will receive their payment via GovCash. This system allows them to withdraw cash disbursements at OCBC ATMs island wide using a payment reference number (PRN), their NRIC number, and facial verification. The payment reference number will be available on the govbenefits website from August 22.
Recipients will be notified in August once their cash or MediSave disbursements have been credited. To safeguard against scams, an SMS notification from gov.sg will inform citizens of their benefits. Recipients do not need to reply to the SMS, click any links, or provide any information to the sender. /TISG
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