ST : $900m Jobs Credit payout

Dec 18, 2009
$900m Jobs Credit payout



The fourth payment of Jobs Credit will be paid to more than 100,000 bosses, employing about 1.4 million local workers by Dec 24. -- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG

THE fourth payment of Jobs Credit will be paid to more than 100,000 bosses, employing about 1.4 million local workers by Dec 24.

Eligible employers will get a notification letter and the amount they will receive by Dec 22 from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), said a statement from the Ministry of Finance on Friday.

The Jobs Credit Scheme was introduced as part of the Resilience Package in Budget 2009 in response to the global economic crisis. With the economy now having stabilised, the Government announced in October it will phase out the Jobs Credit Scheme by providing another two, stepped-down payments in March and June next year.

The two additional payments, which will cost the Government $675 million, will be at stepped down rates as follows:

* March 2010 payment, based on 6 per cent of salary of employees on the payroll in January 2010.

* June 2010 payment, based on 3 per cent of salary of employees on the payroll in April 2010.

The first additional payment to be made in March 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 Feb 14 to do so.