Around 850,000 lower-income Singaporeans aged 55 years and above will receive S$200 to S$300 as part of the Assurance Package Seniors’ Bonus, the Ministry of Finance said on Jan. 15.
This is part of the payouts to be disbursed to some two million Singaporeans by the government in February 2024 via the Assurance Package Seniors’ Bonus and Assurance Package MediSave.
The Assurance Package Seniors’ Bonus will be paid out as early as Feb. 5.
The money will be paid to seniors living in properties with an annual value of up to S$25,000, after the threshold was raised to that value from Jan. 1, 2024.
In total, the Assurance Package Seniors' Bonus will be paid out over three years in 2023, 2024 and 2025, amounting to sums of S$600 to S$900.
MediSave bonus payouts
Every Singaporean aged 20 years and below or 55 years and above will receive the Assurance Package MediSave bonus of S$150 in their CPF MediSave account.
The Assurance Package Medisave payments will be made by Feb. 5.
The top-ups totalling S$450 will be paid out in 2023, 2024, and 2025, benefitting about two million Singaporeans, regardless of the annual value of their home or assessable income.
Background
The package was first announced at Budget 2020.
It is to help offset additional goods and services tax (GST) expenses.
Payouts are to be disbursed over five years, in 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026.
All adult Singaporeans received up to S$800 in the most recent payment in December 2023.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong had announced at Budget 2023 an additional S$1.1 billion Cost-of-Living (COL) Support Package, which includes a S$800 million enhancement to the Assurance Package, bringing it to over S$10 billion.
Check eligibility
No action is required to receive these payments.
Those who wish to be credited their Assurance Package Seniors’ Bonus payments sooner should link their NRIC to PayNow by Jan. 26 for prompt disbursement of funds, if they have accounts with the participating banks in Singapore.
Eligible citizens will be notified in February after the payments have been disbursed to them, either via their Singpass app inbox or SMS notifications for those who have registered their mobile numbers with Singpass, said MOF.
Singaporeans can check their eligibility for the bonus at the Assurance Package official website by logging in with their Singpass.
Top photo via Unsplash