In September, more than 2.4 million Singaporeans will receive a one-off special payment ranging from $200 to $400, designed to help mitigate the escal
In September, more than 2.4 million Singaporeans will receive a one-off special payment ranging from $200 to $400, designed to help mitigate the escalating cost of living. According to the Ministry of Finance (MOF), eligible individuals must be aged 21 and above, own no more than one property, and have an annual assessable income of up to $100,000. The type of property occupied will not influence eligibility.
Singaporeans can verify their eligibility for the Cost of Living (COL) special payment by logging in to the govbenefits website using their Singpass. Eligible recipients will automatically receive their payments in September.
The COL Special Payment was initially announced in February during the Budget 2024 presentation by former Finance Minister Lawrence Wong. This initiative is part of a larger $1.9 billion enhancement to the Assurance Package introduced in 2020 to alleviate the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) increase.
To expedite the payment process, MOF encourages Singaporeans with accounts at the 12 participating banks to link their NRIC to PayNow by August 26. This will enable them to receive their payments earlier, starting from September 5. The participating banks include Bank of China, CIMB, Citibank, DBS/POSB, HSBC Bank, ICBC, Maybank, OCBC Bank, RHB Bank, Standard Chartered, Trust Bank, and UOB.
For those without a linked PayNow-NRIC bank account, but who have an account with DBS/POSB, OCBC, or UOB, they can update their information on the govbenefits website by August 27 to receive payments via GIRO starting September 13. Individuals who do not complete these steps will receive their payouts through GovCash and can withdraw funds from OCBC ATMs from September 23 by entering their payment reference number and NRIC, along with facial verification. An OCBC account is not required for these ATM withdrawals.
To protect against scams, recipients will receive SMS notifications regarding their benefits from gov.sg. They are advised not to reply, click any links, or provide personal information to the sender.
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