Singaporeans prioritise a secured future hence, the Singapore government set up the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme in 2007. It aims to further support low-income workers, in hopes to lower the financial concerns surrounding retirement.
What is Workfare Income Supplement
The main purpose of the Workfare Income Supplement scheme is to top up the salaries of Singaporean workers that are in the bottom 20% to help them save for retirement. Workers who meet Workfare eligibility criterias will receive them in the form of CPF payments and cash to supplement their CPF and income.
For employees, your employer will contribute to your CPF. Workfare eligibility will then be based on employer CPF contributions. However, let’s look into how the Workfare Income Supplement would differ for self-employed individuals.
Qualification for Workfare Income Supplement for the Self-Employed
These criteria must be met in order to qualify for workfare as a self-employed individual:
- are a Singapore Citizen;
- are at least 30 years old or older as of 31 December of the work year, or persons with disabilities of any age;
- earn an average monthly income of at least $500, but not more than $2,500 (wage cap will increase to $3,000 from 2025 onwards);
- have declared your net trade income and made MediSave contributions
- live in a property with an annual value of $21,000 and below from Work Year 2024, assessed as at 31 December of the preceding year;
- own not more than one property; and
- if you are married, you and your spouse together own not more than one property and the assessable income of your spouse does not exceed $70,000 for the preceding Year of Assessment.
Additionally, for self-employed individuals with disabilities, workers who qualify for ComCare Short-to-Medium-Term Assistance and caregivers of care recipients are eligible for concessionary workfare, even if they earn less than $500.
How is the Workfare payout given
Eligible self-employed recipients will receive 10% of Workfare Income Supplement payout in cash and 90% in their MediSave account. Cash will go to PayNow accounts, registered bank accounts or GovCash.
A self-employed person will receive WIS once a year for work done in the preceding work year. The earliest payment for a particular Work Year will be in end April of the following work year, provided you have declared your income and contributed to your MediSave by the following Work Year.
The WIS Self-Employed Work Year 2023 calculator is available for use here if you require. You may also click here to access the WIS calculator for other years and for employees.
Expedite the Process of Receiving Workfare Income Supplement Payouts
Your income has to be declared correctly within a stipulated period and MediSave contributions have to be made.
All Net Trade Income (NTI) declarations for Work Year 2023 can be made with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) by filing a tax return. Individuals required to file tax from IRAS have from 1 March to 18 April annually to do it. You may read up more here on how to file IRAS income tax for your business.
Furthermore, do make sure that you’ve made the required contributions into your MediSave account. The sooner your income is declared accurately and required MediSave contributions are made, the earlier you will receive your workfare payout.
While the WIS can help tackle long term concerns, we also recognise that self employed individuals might have other short term business concerns such as cash flow difficulties.
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