More than 2.4 million S'poreans to get S$200-S$400 cost-of-living special payment in Sep. 2024

More than 2.4 million Singaporeans will receive S$200 to S$400 for the Budget 2024 Cost-of-Living Special Payment in September 2024.

Adult Singaporeans who own no more than one property, with annual assessable incomes of up to S$100,000 are eligible, regardless of the type of property they live in.

More support will be given to lower to middle-income groups.

Eligible recipients will automatically receive their payments in September.

Those with assessable income of up to S$22,000 will get S$400.

For those with assessable income more than S$22,000 and up to S$34,000, they will get S$300.

And those whose assessable income is more than S$34,000 and up to S$100,000 will get S$200.

How to check for eligibility

Payment from Sep. 5

Citizens may check their eligibility on the govbenefits website by logging in with their Singpass.

They are encouraged to register for PayNow-NRIC with their banks by Aug. 26, 2024 if they have accounts with the 12 participating banks in Singapore.

By doing so, eligible citizens will receive their special payment earlier, from Sep. 5.

Payment from Sep. 13

Citizens without PayNow-NRIC linked bank accounts but have a DBS/ POSB, OCBC, or UOB bank account, may provide their bank account information at the govbenefits website by Aug. 27.

They will then receive the cash benefits via GIRO from Sep. 13.

Payment from Sep. 23

Eligible citizens who have not linked their NRICs to PayNow, or provided a valid bank account will receive their cash benefits via GovCash.

Citizens on GovCash may withdraw their special payment at any OCBC ATMs island-wide by entering their Payment Reference Number (PRN), NRIC, and passing the facial verification.

The PRN can be retrieved by logging into the govbenefits website with their Singpass from Sep. 23.

These individuals do not require an OCBC bank account to withdraw their payment at the OCBC ATMs.

GovCash recipients can also use the LifeSG app to make payment to merchants by scanning their PayNow/ NETS QR code, or transfer payments to their bank account via PayNow-NRIC if they subsequently register for this service.

Eligible recipients will only be notified in September 2024, after the special payment has been credited.

Background

At Budget 2024, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong announced a S$1.9 billion enhancement to the Assurance Package (AP) to help relieve cost-of-living pressures for Singaporean households, with more support for lower- to middle-income families.

This includes additional cash for eligible adult Singaporeans, Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers for all Singaporean households, U-Save, and service and conservancy charges (S&CC) rebate for HDB households.

Top photo via Unsplash