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 Employers
1. Top-ups can only be made on behalf of employees who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents.
2. The top-up is irreversible, i.e. my cash top-ups or CPF transfers cannot be returned to me.
3. 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.
4. 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
5. 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 In line with this, the top-up monies cannot be withdrawn for other purposes and will be excluded from the withdrawable/usable amounts under the following: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.
6. Top-up monies to the RA will increase the recipient’s retirement sum, and may reduce the CPF property pledge/charge in their RA, if any.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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
Statement(s) will be sent to you upon approval of the application.
2. Tax Relief
Employers who make cash top-ups on their employees’ behalf will receive an equivalent amount of tax deduction. Employees can enjoy tax relief of up to $8,000 per calendar year, for cash top-ups made by themselves or by their employers on their behalf.
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 on employees’ behalf under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme (RSTU).
In addition, only cash top-ups 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
- If your 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 your recipient’s RA at the beginning of the following year.
- 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.
- 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.