What is CPF?
The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is Singapore's mandatory social security savings scheme. It covers retirement, healthcare, and housing needs. Both employers and employees contribute a portion of the employee's wages each month, and the combined amount is deposited into the employee's CPF accounts.
As an employer, you are responsible for computing the correct contributions, deducting the employee's share from their salary, adding the employer's share, and submitting the total to the CPF Board by the 14th of the following month.
Who contributes?
Singapore Citizens
Full CPF contributions apply from the first month of employment. Both the employer and employee contribute.
Permanent Residents (PRs)
PRs follow graduated contribution rates during their first and second years of permanent residency. After that, full rates apply. Employers and employees may jointly elect to contribute at full rates from the start.
Foreigners
Foreign employees (work permit, S Pass, Employment Pass) are not covered by CPF. No contributions are required.
How contribution rates work
CPF contributions are split into an employer share and an employee share. The total contribution rate — and how it is divided — depends on the employee's age bracket and citizenship status. Rates are published by the CPF Board and updated periodically.
In general, younger employees attract higher total contribution rates, and the rates step down at certain age thresholds. The employer share and employee share also shift: as employees age, the employer portion gradually decreases while the employee portion adjusts as well.
The contributed amounts are allocated across three CPF accounts — Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA), and Medisave Account (MA) — in proportions that also vary by age. The CPF Board publishes detailed rate tables covering every combination of age bracket, citizenship status, and PR graduation year.
Always verify with CPF Board
Contribution rates are updated by the CPF Board and may change with each Budget. Do not rely on cached or third-party rate tables for filing — always confirm against the current rates published at cpf.gov.sg.
Ordinary Wage ceiling and Additional Wage ceiling
CPF contributions are not calculated on unlimited wages. Two ceilings apply:
Ordinary Wage (OW) ceiling
S$8,000
Per month. CPF is computed on monthly wages up to this amount. Any wages above S$8,000 in a given month are not subject to CPF.
Additional Wage (AW) ceiling
S$102,000
Per year. Additional wages (bonuses, commissions) attract CPF only up to the AW ceiling, reduced by the total OW subject to CPF that year.
These ceilings are important when paying bonuses or commissions. If an employee's ordinary wages already reach the OW ceiling each month, the remaining headroom for CPF on additional wages is reduced.
Skills Development Levy (SDL)
In addition to CPF, employers must pay the SDL on all employees — including foreign workers. The levy is 0.25% of each employee's gross monthly remuneration, subject to a minimum and maximum amount set by the SkillsFuture Singapore Agency.
SDL funds the Skills Development Fund, which finances workforce training and upgrading programmes.
Self-Help Group contributions
Singapore employees who are citizens may also have deductions for Self-Help Group (SHG) funds, based on their ethnicity and monthly wage. The four funds are CDAC (Chinese Development Assistance Council), SINDA (Singapore Indian Development Association), MBMF (Mosque Building and Mendaki Fund), and ECF (Eurasian Community Fund). These are collected alongside CPF contributions.
Employees may opt out of SHG contributions. As an employer, you deduct and remit these amounts as part of the monthly CPF submission.
Critical Mass Cloud calculates CPF and SDL automatically
Every payroll run in Critical Mass Cloud applies the correct CPF rates by age and citizenship, enforces the OW and AW ceilings, computes SDL, and generates MOM-compliant payslips. No spreadsheet formulas to maintain.
See the HR & Payroll moduleRelated reading
Sources
Rates and ceilings referenced in this guide are sourced from the CPF Board (cpf.gov.sg) and IRAS (iras.gov.sg). Verify current rates before filing. This guide is for general information only and does not constitute legal or financial advice.