Topping up your retirement savings refers to the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme (RSTU). RSTU helps you build up your own or your loved ones’ retirement savings through higher monthly payouts/extending duration of your payout.
For Applicant
1. You must have never been a bankrupt or must be a discharged bankrupt. If you are an undischarged bankrupt, you must first obtain approval from the Official Assignee to make a cash top-up.
2. The top-up recipient must be a Singaporean or Singapore permanent resident.
3. The top-up is irreversible (i.e. my cash top-ups cannot be returned to me).
4. Top-ups will be made to the Special Account (SA) if the recipient is below 55 years old and the Retirement Account (RA) if the recipient is 55 years old or above.
5. The top-up limit is the maximum top-up amount a recipient can receive in his CPF account. The limit is computed based on the recipient’s CPF savings:
1 RA savings refer to the cash set aside in the RA (excluding amounts such as interest earned, any government grants received), plus retirement withdrawals.
For Recipient
6. Top-up monies are meant to build up the recipient’s retirement savings and will be paid as monthly payouts from reaching payout eligibility age. In line with this, the top-up monies cannot be withdrawn for other purposes and will be excluded from the withdrawable/usable amounts under the following:
- Other CPF schemes for education, investment, insurance, housing, CPF transfers, etc;
- Withdrawals from RA (including property owners); and
- Via exemption from setting aside a retirement sum in the RA.
7. Top-ups to the RA will increase the recipient’s retirement sum, and may reduce the CPF property pledge/charge in their RA, if any.
8. In the event of the recipient’s death, any remaining top-ups will be paid to his nominees based on his CPF nomination. If there is no nomination, any remaining cash top-ups will be transferred to the Public Trustee for distribution in accordance with the intestacy laws or inheritance certificate (for Muslims) in Singapore. If the recipient is leaving Singapore permanently and closes his CPF account, any remaining top-ups will be paid to him.
9. The top-up monies in the recipient’s SA and the interest earned will be transferred to his RA when he turns 55 years old.
10. Top-ups received by a CPF LIFE member will automatically be used to increase his CPF LIFE premium, latest by the following month, so that he will receive higher CPF LIFE monthly payouts for life. The member will receive his revised monthly payouts the following month after his premium has increased.
11. For a recipient who is not on CPF LIFE and receives a top-up, he will receive higher payouts and/or payouts for a longer period.
General Information
1. Status of your Retirement Sum Topping-Up application
You can view the transaction online once your application is processed. Log on to my CPF Online Services and view the top-up transaction in your Transaction History.
2. Tax Relief
You can enjoy tax relief of up to $8,000 per calendar year, for cash top-up made by yourself to your SA/RA and/or MediSave Account (MA) and by your employer on your behalf to your SA/RA. You can enjoy an additional tax relief of up to $8,000 per calendar year if you make cash top-ups for your parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, spouse and siblings' SA/RA and/or MA. To qualify for tax relief for cash top-ups for your spouse/sibling(s), he must not have an annual income exceeding $8,000 in the year preceding the year of top-up (e.g. salary or tax-exempt income such as bank interest, dividends, and pension) or is handicapped.
Please note that a personal income tax relief cap of $80,000 applies to the total amount of all tax reliefs claimed, including any relief on cash top-ups made under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme (RSTU) and Voluntary Contribution (VC-MA). You should evaluate whether you would benefit from tax relief on your cash top-ups and make an informed decision accordingly as cash top-ups made under the RSTU scheme cannot be refunded.
In addition, for cash top-ups to SA and/or RA, only amounts within the following caps, which are computed based on the current FRS and the recipient’s CPF savings, will be eligible for tax relief:
You may wish to check with your recipient on his SA savings or RA savings1 to find out more about the amount of the tax relief that you can receive for cash top-ups.
1 The cap is based on current FRS, rather than the ERS, to keep tax benefits focused on supporting basic retirement needs.
2 RA savings refer to the cash set aside in the RA (excluding amounts such as interest earned, any government grants received), plus retirement withdrawals.
3. You are encouraged to make top-ups early.
For year-end cash top-up applications, payments should be made to the Board by 31 December to enjoy tax relief for the following year's Tax Assessment.
Matched Retirement Savings Scheme
1. If the recipient is eligible for the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS) as at the time of the cash top-up, he will receive a matching grant from the Government for every $1 of cash top-up made to his RA3, up to an annual cap of $600. The matching grant will be credited to the recipient’s RA at the beginning of the following year.
2. You have declared that you agree that the top-up is irreversible (please see Declaration segment of the application). Despite this, if you still wish for the Board to consider your request to revoke your cash top-up, please note that such a reversal4 will require the associated matching grant and interest earned to be reversed as well.
3. You and your recipient can find out more about MRSS at cpf.gov.sg/mrss.
3 Cash top-ups made to the SA of eligible members turning 55 later in the year will also be considered for MRSS
4 This also requires written agreement from the recipient.