Assurance Package: 2 million Singaporeans to receive Seniors' Bonus and MediSave cash payouts in February 2024
The payments are part of the suite of Assurance Package measures previously announced in Singapore's Budget 2022.
SINGAPORE — About two million Singaporeans are set to receive the Assurance Package (AP) Seniors' Bonus and top-ups to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) MediSave account in February 2024, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on Monday (15 January).
Out of the roughly two million AP recipients, about 850,000 lower-income senior Singapore citizens aged 55 years and above will receive the AP Seniors' Bonus of S$200 to S$300 in February 2024. The AP Seniors' Bonus will be paid to seniors living in properties with an Annual Value (AV) of up to S$25,000 – based on 2023 AVs – subject to meeting other eligibility criteria. The MOF previously announced that the AV threshold would be raised to S$25,000 with effect from 1 January 2024.
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Additionally, in February 2024, all Singaporeans aged 20 years and below, and 55 years and above, will receive a top-up of S$150 to their MediSave accounts. About two million citizens stand to benefit from the top-up, regardless of the AV of their home or their assessable income.
These payments are part of the suite of AP measures previously announced in Budget 2022. The AP, which aims to help Singaporeans tide through a period of higher inflation and cushion the impact of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate hike, includes cash payments, rebates, Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers, and MediSave top-ups.
Under the AP, eligible seniors will receive the AP Seniors’ Bonus – previously known as the GST Voucher–Cash (Seniors’ Bonus) – totalling S$600 to S$900, while all Singaporean children and seniors will receive the AP MediSave top-ups totalling S$450. The disbursements will be made over three years from 2023 to 2025.
How to receive the AP Seniors' Bonus and AP MediSave
No action is required on the part of eligible Singaporeans to receive these AP payments. However, those who wish to receive their AP Seniors' Bonus payments sooner should link their NRIC to PayNow.
The government has encouraged citizens to link their NRIC to PayNow by 26 January 2024 if they have accounts with the participating banks in Singapore. Those who do so can receive their AP Seniors' Bonus as early as 5 February 2024, according to MOF. The list of participating banks for PayNow-NRIC includes Bank of China, CIMB, Citibank, DBS / POSB, HSBC, ICBC, Maybank, OCBC, RHB, Standard Chartered Bank and UOB.
If the PayNow-NRIC is not linked with any of the participating banks, the payment will either be directly credited to the bank account that was previously used for past payments, if any, or via GovCash.
On the other hand, those without PayNow-NRIC linked bank accounts can update their bank account information (with DBS/POSB, OCBC or UOB) at the AP official website by 26 January 2024 to receive the payment by 13 February 2024.
Citizens may also check their eligibility for AP Seniors' Bonus and AP MediSave at the AP official website by logging in with their Singpass.
Eligible recipients will be notified in February 2024 after the AP Seniors' Bonus and AP MediSave payments have been made to them. Recipients will be notified either via their Singpass app inbox or SMS notifications for those who have registered their mobile numbers with Singpass, but have not downloaded or completed their one-time setup of the Singpass app.
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