Which contribution rate applies in my first year as a Singapore Permanent Resident?

The default for a new SPR is the Graduated/Graduated basis — both employer and employee pay reduced percentages. For employees aged 55 and below earning Ordinary Wages above S$750 per month, the Year-1 headline rates are: | Year of SPR status | Employer share of OW | Employee share of OW | Combined | |--------------------|----------------------|----------------------|----------| | Year 1 (Graduated/Graduated) | 9% | 5% | 14% | | Year 2 (Graduated/Graduated) | 24% | 15% | 39% | | Year 3 onwards (full rates) | 17% | 20% | 37% | The Central Provident Fund Board has published a footer note on Tables 2 and 3 of the contribution-rate PDF effective 1 January 2026: "There are no changes to the graduated employer and employee rates since 1 January 2016." The graduated bands are durable across reform cycles. Older age bands have lower percentages — check the Central Provident Fund Board's contribution rate table for your specific age band.

How is the year of my SPR status counted?

Year 1 begins on the day SPR status is obtained — the date on the Form 5/5A entry permit issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority — and ends on the last day of the month of the first anniversary of conversion. Year 2 starts from the month after that anniversary; Year 3 starts from the month after the second anniversary. The Central Provident Fund Board publishes a worked example: an SPR converting on 15 January in a given calendar year completes Year 1 on 31 January the following year, Year 2 runs from 1 February to 31 January the year after, and Year 3 begins on 1 February. Your employer is expected to track this anniversary date.

Can my employer and I jointly elect to pay at full rates during Year 1 or Year 2?

Yes. An employer and a Year-1 or Year-2 SPR employee may jointly apply to the Central Provident Fund Board to contribute at one of two alternatives to the default Graduated/Graduated basis: - Full Employer / Graduated Employee — the employer pays the full Singapore Citizen rate; the employee remains on the graduated rate. - Full Employer / Full Employee — both sides pay the full Singapore Citizen rate, which means the third-year rate schedule applies from approval onwards. The joint application is filed digitally through cpf.gov.sg/employer. Higher rates take effect from the next contribution month after the Central Provident Fund Board approves the request; the election is not retrospective and is irrevocable for the remainder of the SPR year in which it was made.

What happens to my CPF money if I give up Permanent Resident status and leave Singapore?

The Central Provident Fund Board's on-leaving-Singapore page sets eligibility for withdrawal as "Not a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident" — the applicant must have formally renounced (or had ICA cancel) the status and left Singapore with no intention to return for employment. The renunciation-effective-date logic on the page distinguishes two cohorts: - Renounced before 1 April 2024: the CPF accounts were automatically closed at the time; the member applies later to transfer the accumulated savings to a designated bank account. - Renounced from 1 April 2024 onwards: the member may close the CPF accounts and transfer savings as soon as the renunciation takes effect. Average processing time is about twelve weeks from receipt of a complete application package. Outstanding obligations — Housing & Development Board housing loan principal, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore tax clearance via Form IR21, and scheme premium recovery — are netted from the final disbursement.

CPF Contributions for New Singapore Permanent Residents

Researched from official sources · May 24, 2026

A new Singapore Permanent Resident does not pay full Singapore Citizen CPF rates immediately.

The Central Provident Fund Board applies a two-year graduated phase-in: the first and second years use lower employer and employee percentages (the Graduated/Graduated basis), and from the start of the third year the employer switches automatically to full rates. The conversion date on the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority entry permit (Form 5/5A) marks the start of Year 1.

Estimated time

Automatic at first payroll cycle after PR conversion; joint applications for higher rates process within a few weeks

Cost

Contributions are a percentage of wages, not a fixed fee — see contribution tables

I am:

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What You Need

Tap to check off items as you gather them

Entry permit (Form 5/5A) (Form 5/5A)

Where to get

Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), issued on the day SPR status is granted

Required

Original or certified copy showing the SPR conversion date

The date on the entry permit is the SPR conversion date — the start of Year 1 for CPF graduated-rate purposes. Your employer needs a copy to begin CPF contributions from the correct month.
Singapore Permanent Resident NRIC (Singapore NRIC)

Where to get

Issued by ICA shortly after SPR conversion at the same appointment as Form 5/5A

Required

Physical card; carries the NRIC number that becomes your CPF member identifier

Your NRIC number is the same as the CPF member number used on every payroll deduction line and on my cpf log-in. There is no separate CPF account number to memorise.
Singpass account (Singpass)

Where to get

Register at singpass.gov.sg once you hold the SPR NRIC

Required

Active Singpass login to access my cpf, view balances, and submit voluntary top-ups

Singpass is the only authentication channel for CPF self-service. You will need it to view monthly contributions, project annual headroom for voluntary top-ups, and submit any joint-application request through your employer.
Employer entity selection on cpf.gov.sg/employer

Where to get

Your employer's HR or payroll administrator selects the correct entity type to access the joint-application form

Required

Employer access — not member access — for any joint application to pay at higher rates during Year 1 or Year 2

The joint application to contribute at the Full Employer / Graduated Employee or Full Employer / Full Employee basis is filed by the employer through the employer portal, not by the employee through my cpf. Both parties sign; the employer submits.
Recent payslips (for verification)

Where to get

Issued monthly by your employer

Required

First two or three payslips after SPR conversion to confirm the Year-1 graduated rate has been applied

Check the employer-share and employee-share lines on the first SPR payslip against the published Year-1 rate table. The contribution should land on Year-1 Graduated rates from the month of SPR conversion, even if the conversion was mid-month.

Additional Items

The four 2026 reference figures that anchor every contribution calculation: Ordinary Wages ceiling of S$8,000 per month, Additional Wages ceiling formula of S$102,000 minus annual Ordinary Wages subject to CPF, CPF Annual Limit of S$37,740 across mandatory and voluntary contributions combined, and Basic Healthcare Sum of S$79,000 for members below age 65. These are reviewed each year; check the my cpf service article 'What is the Ordinary Wage (OW) ceiling' before any year-end planning.
A separate budget line for the December bonus month. The Additional Wages ceiling is annual and per-employer, so a bonus paid late in the calendar year can fully or partially attract CPF depending on how much salary you have already earned.
If you are 55 or above on SPR conversion, the Special Account has been closed for the 55-and-above cohort since 19 January 2025. Contributions are allocated to the Ordinary Account, Retirement Account (up to the Full Retirement Sum), and MediSave Account instead.
From 1 January 2026, contributions for employees aged 55 to 65 are fully channelled to the Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum. A further increase to those age bands has been announced for 1 January 2027 (above 55 to 60 rising to 35.5% total; above 60 to 65 rising to 26% total).
The 4% interest floor on the Special, MediSave, and Retirement Accounts has been extended by the Government to 31 December 2026.

Last checked 23 days ago

Step-by-Step

1

Confirm your SPR conversion date and tell your employer
1. Collect the entry permit (Form 5/5A) from the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority on the day SPR status is granted. The date on the permit is the start of your Year 1 for CPF graduated-rate purposes.
2. Hand the Permanent Resident NRIC over to your payroll team along with a copy of the permit. Your employer needs both to switch payroll from non-PR (no CPF) to Year-1 Graduated rates.
3. The switch happens automatically — there is no application required for the default Graduated/Graduated basis.
💡 Tip: Even a mid-month SPR conversion triggers CPF from that same month. Your employer pro-rates the contribution for the partial month, but the underlying Year-1 rate applies from day one of conversion, not from the start of the next calendar month.
2

Begin Year-1 contributions on the Graduated/Graduated basis
1. Your employer applies the first-year Graduated/Graduated contribution rate to your wages from the SPR conversion date — without any application required.
2. For employees aged 55 and below earning Ordinary Wages above S$750 per month, the first-year rate is 9% employer and 5% employee on the Ordinary Wages share of monthly pay.
3. The same percentages apply to Additional Wages (bonuses, commissions paid less than monthly), subject to the Additional Wages ceiling.
4. Check your first two or three payslips to confirm the Year-1 rate has been applied correctly. Discrepancies are corrected by your employer through the standard CPF submission process by the fourteenth of the following month.
💡 Tip: The Central Provident Fund Board states verbatim on the footer of the contribution-rate table effective 1 January 2026: "There are no changes to the graduated employer and employee rates since 1 January 2016." Year-1 and Year-2 graduated bands are durable. Source: cpf.gov.sg contribution-rate PDF.
3

Decide whether to jointly elect higher rates
1. Discuss with your employer whether either of you wants to elect the Full Employer / Graduated Employee basis or the Full Employer / Full Employee basis during Year 1 or Year 2.
2. Weigh the trade-off: higher contributions now mean lower take-home pay (especially for the Full Employer / Full Employee election), but a larger CPF balance growing at the published interest floors.
3. If you both want to proceed, your employer files the joint application through cpf.gov.sg/employer after selecting the correct entity type. Both parties sign.
4. Approval takes effect from the next contribution month after the Central Provident Fund Board confirms; the election is not retrospective.
💡 Tip: The joint election is irrevocable for the remainder of the SPR year in which it was made. A fresh election can be made at the start of Year 2 if you change employer — useful if the new employer's payroll system handles the higher rates more smoothly.
4

Track your SPR anniversary for the Year-2 and Year-3 boundaries
1. Year 1 runs from your conversion date to the last day of the month of the first anniversary.
2. Year 2 runs from the month following the first anniversary to the last day of the month of the second anniversary.
3. Year 3 begins from the month following the second anniversary, when the employer switches to the full Singapore Citizen rate table automatically.
4. Use the CPF contribution calculator at cpf.gov.sg/employer/tools-and-services/calculators/cpf-contribution-calculator to verify each transition.
💡 Tip: Treat the Year-2 → Year-3 step as the moment to revisit voluntary top-up strategy. The mandatory contribution jumps substantially, which compresses your voluntary headroom under the CPF Annual Limit.
5

Plan any voluntary top-ups under the CPF Annual Limit
1. Log in to my cpf via Singpass and project your mandatory CPF contributions remaining for the calendar year.
2. Calculate voluntary headroom: CPF Annual Limit minus projected mandatory. The Annual Limit applies across employer, employee and voluntary contributions to your own three accounts combined.
3. Choose between a top-up to all three accounts (subject to age-band allocation) or a Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme top-up specifically to the Special Account (under 55) or Retirement Account (55 and above).
4. Pay by PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO from my cpf. Any excess over the Annual Limit is refunded automatically the following year.
💡 Tip: Voluntary contributions to your own three accounts by an employed SPR do not qualify for personal income tax relief — only self-employed contributions on net trade income may qualify under the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore regime. The tax-relief lever for an employed SPR is the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme route, not the general voluntary contribution.
6

If you later leave Singapore permanently, apply to withdraw your CPF
1. Renounce or have ICA cancel your Singapore Permanent Resident status; depart Singapore.
2. Identify the application channel: Singpass holders use the Write To Us portal at cpf.gov.sg/writetous; non-Singpass overseas applicants mail certified documents (Singapore Overseas Mission seal, or Apostille certification under the Apostille Convention) to the Central Provident Fund Board; non-Singpass applicants in Singapore book an appointment via cpf.gov.sg/appt/oas/form; Malaysia citizens use a specific FormSG channel.
3. Prepare the document checklist: renunciation evidence from ICA, foreign passport with Singapore departure record, bank account details for the transfer, and the surrendered NRIC.
4. Submit and wait.
💡 Tip: The Central Provident Fund Board's on-leaving-Singapore page sets the average processing time at "about 12 weeks" from receipt of a complete application. Outstanding HDB loan obligations, IRAS tax clearance, and scheme premium recovery are deducted from the final balance before transfer. Source: cpf.gov.sg/member/account-services/cpf-asset-management/on-leaving-singapore.

⚠️ Watch out: If the Form IR21 tax clearance is not finalised before submission, the Central Provident Fund Board holds the disbursement until the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore confirms there is no outstanding balance. The same applies to any HDB housing-loan principal still secured against the Ordinary Account. Clear both before submitting to avoid a processing pause inside the twelve-week window.

Costs

Item	Amount	Payment	Notes
Voluntary contribution to own three CPF accounts (calendar-year cap)	S$37,740	PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO via my cpf	The CPF Annual Limit is the maximum total of employer, employee and voluntary contributions to your own Ordinary, Special (or Retirement) and MediSave Accounts in a calendar year. Voluntary headroom equals S$37,740 minus mandatory contributions made for the year. Any excess paid in is automatically refunded the following year.
RSTU cash top-up to own Special or Retirement Account (annual tax-relief cap)	S$8,000	PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO via my cpf	Per calendar year, cash top-ups to your own Special Account (under 55) or Retirement Account (55 and above) under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme attract personal income tax relief up to S$8,000. The top-up amount itself can be larger up to the Enhanced Retirement Sum — only the tax-relief portion is capped.
RSTU cash top-up to loved ones combined (annual tax-relief cap)	S$8,000	PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO via my cpf	A separate S$8,000 tax relief is available for cash top-ups to parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, spouse, and siblings combined, per calendar year. Recipients do not get tax relief themselves; the giver does.

Voluntary contribution to own three CPF accounts (calendar-year cap) S$37,740

Payment:: PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO via my cpf
Notes:: The CPF Annual Limit is the maximum total of employer, employee and voluntary contributions to your own Ordinary, Special (or Retirement) and MediSave Accounts in a calendar year. Voluntary headroom equals S$37,740 minus mandatory contributions made for the year. Any excess paid in is automatically refunded the following year.

RSTU cash top-up to own Special or Retirement Account (annual tax-relief cap) S$8,000

Payment:: PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO via my cpf
Notes:: Per calendar year, cash top-ups to your own Special Account (under 55) or Retirement Account (55 and above) under the Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme attract personal income tax relief up to S$8,000. The top-up amount itself can be larger up to the Enhanced Retirement Sum — only the tax-relief portion is capped.

RSTU cash top-up to loved ones combined (annual tax-relief cap) S$8,000

Payment:: PayNow QR, eNETS, or GIRO via my cpf
Notes:: A separate S$8,000 tax relief is available for cash top-ups to parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, spouse, and siblings combined, per calendar year. Recipients do not get tax relief themselves; the giver does.

Total: S$53,740

FAQ

Costs

What is the maximum I can contribute on top of mandatory CPF in a year?

The CPF Annual Limit caps the combined total of mandatory and voluntary contributions to your own three accounts at S$37,740 per calendar year. Voluntary headroom equals S$37,740 minus mandatory contributions already made. The Additional Wages ceiling — separate from the CPF Annual Limit — limits how much of a bonus or non-monthly payment attracts CPF, and is calculated as S$102,000 minus your annual Ordinary Wages subject to CPF. Worked example for a 32-year-old SPR in Year 1 earning S$5,000 per month with no bonus: monthly contributions are employer 9% × S$5,000 = S$450 and employee 5% × S$5,000 = S$250, totalling S$700 per month or S$8,400 per year.

Did anything change for senior workers in 2026 — and is more coming?

Yes. From 1 January 2026, the full contribution rates for the above-55-to-60 and above-60-to-65 age bands increased. The above-55-to-60 total rate moved from 32.5% to 34%, and the above-60-to-65 total rate moved from 23.5% to 25%. These increases are fully allocated to the Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum. A further increase has been announced for 1 January 2027: the above-55-to-60 total rises by another 1.5 percentage points to 35.5%, and the above-60-to-65 total rises by 1.0 percentage point to 26%. The 55-and-below band remains at 37%, and the graduated rates for first-year and second-year SPRs are unchanged.

General

What happens at the start of the third year?

The switch to full rates is automatic. From the calendar month after the second anniversary of SPR conversion, the employer must move to the full Singapore Citizen rate table from the next payroll cycle. No application is required from either side. The Central Provident Fund Board contribution calculator on cpf.gov.sg/employer/tools-and-services/calculators/cpf-contribution-calculator can be used to verify the change.

Are foreigners on an Employment Pass or S Pass eligible to contribute to CPF voluntarily?

No. CPF contributions — mandatory or voluntary — are restricted to Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents. The Central Provident Fund Board member portal lists foreigners among the exempted groups. There is no voluntary CPF mechanism for Employment Pass, S Pass, Work Permit, Personalised Employment Pass, EntrePass, ONE Pass or Tech.Pass holders. If your employer is deducting CPF for you while you hold one of these passes, that is incorrect and should be raised with payroll immediately.

After This Process

→ Open or update your bank account so payroll can deposit your SGD salary net of CPF — see the Singapore bank-account guide for the foreigner branch path
→ Register for Singpass once your Permanent Resident NRIC arrives, so my cpf self-service is available from the first payslip
→ If you are buying a flat, review how Ordinary Account funds can service a Housing & Development Board housing loan — that is a separate decision tied to the OA allocation

Sources

Central Provident Fund Board — member portal (cpf.gov.sg ↗)
Central Provident Fund Board — employer obligations (cpf.gov.sg ↗)
Central Provident Fund Board — contribution-rate table (PDF) (cpf.gov.sg ↗)
Central Provident Fund Board — allocation-rate table (PDF) (cpf.gov.sg ↗)
Central Provident Fund Board — on leaving Singapore (cpf.gov.sg ↗)
Central Provident Fund Board — Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme (cpf.gov.sg ↗)
Singapore Statutes Online — Central Provident Fund Act 1953 (sso.agc.gov.sg ↗)

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11 sources cited last accessed 2026-05-24

T1 official portal · T2 embassy/consulate · T3 news · T4 community — higher tier wins on conflict. methodology →

T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Primary numeric source for the SPR Year-1, Year-2 and Year-3-onwards contribution rate matrices effective 1 January 2026. Table 2 (Year-1 Graduated/Graduated, age 55 and below, Ordinary Wages above S$750): employer 9% / employee 5% / combined 14%. Table 3 (Year-2 Graduated/Graduated, age 55 and below, Ordinary Wages above S$750): employer 24% / employee 15% / combined 39%. Table 1 (Year-3 onwards and Singapore Citizen, age 55 and below): employer 17% / employee 20% / combined 37%. PDF footer note (Tables 2 and 3) word-for-word: "There are no changes to the graduated employer and employee rates since 1 January 2016." Ordinary Wages ceiling stated as S$8,000 per month.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Ordinary Wages ceiling for CPF is S$8,000 per month from 1 January 2026. The page documents the staged increase from S$6,000 pre-September 2023 → S$6,300 (1 September 2023) → S$6,800 (1 January 2024) → S$7,400 (1 January 2025) → S$8,000 (1 January 2026) as the final step of the staged ramp announced at Budget 2023.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Additional Wages ceiling formula: S$102,000 minus total Ordinary Wages subject to CPF for the calendar year, applied per employer per calendar year. Additional Wages are wages not granted at least once a month for services in that month (annual bonus, leave pay encashment, incentive payments, commission paid less frequently than monthly).
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Year 1 of SPR status begins on the day SPR status is obtained — the date on the entry permit (Form 5/5A) issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority — and ends on the last day of the month of the first anniversary of conversion. Year 2 and Year 3 begin from the month following the conversion anniversary. Worked example: SPR converting on 15 January in a given year completes Year 1 on 31 January the following year, Year 2 runs 1 February through 31 January the year after, and Year 3 begins 1 February.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Joint application mechanism for Year-1 or Year-2 SPR employee and employer to elect higher contribution rates. Two alternatives to the default Graduated/Graduated basis are Full Employer / Graduated Employee (Tables 4 and 5 in the contribution-rate PDF) and Full Employer / Full Employee (Table 1 rates apply from approval). Application is filed digitally via cpf.gov.sg/employer after selecting the employer entity type. Approval is not retrospective; higher rates apply from the next contribution month after the Central Provident Fund Board approves; the election is irrevocable for the remainder of the SPR year in which it was made.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Eligibility for withdrawal of CPF on leaving Singapore permanently is framed as the applicant being "Not a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident" — i.e. having formally renounced (or had ICA cancel) the status. Renunciation-effective-date logic distinguishes two cohorts: members who renounced before 1 April 2024 had CPF accounts automatically closed at the time and apply later to transfer balances; members who renounced from 1 April 2024 onwards may close their CPF accounts and transfer savings as soon as renunciation takes effect. Average processing time stated word-for-word as "about 12 weeks" from receipt of a complete application package. The eligibility model on the canonical page is renunciation-completion plus departure, not a post-renunciation waiting period.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

CPF Annual Limit is S$37,740 per calendar year, applied across mandatory (employer + employee) and voluntary contributions to a member's own three accounts (Ordinary, Special or Retirement, and MediSave). Maximum voluntary contribution = S$37,740 minus mandatory CPF for the year. Excess contributions are automatically refunded the following year.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme: cash top-ups specifically into the Special Account (recipient under 55) or Retirement Account (recipient 55 and above). Eligible loved ones: parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, spouse, siblings. Tax relief up to S$8,000 per calendar year for cash top-up to self, plus a separate up to S$8,000 for cash top-ups to all eligible loved ones combined. Cap on top-up itself is the prevailing year's Enhanced Retirement Sum for the recipient. Top-ups are irreversible. Tax relief flows to the giver only.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Senior-worker contribution rate increase effective 1 January 2026: the above-55-to-60 total rate moves from 32.5% to 34% (employer +0.5pp, employee +1pp); the above-60-to-65 total rate moves from 23.5% to 25% (employer +0.5pp, employee +1pp). The increases are fully allocated to the Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum. A further increase is scheduled for 1 January 2027: above-55-to-60 +1.5pp total to 35.5%; above-60-to-65 +1.0pp total to 26%. The announcement reiterates: "There are no changes to the graduated contribution rates for first and second year Singapore Permanent Residents."
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Central Provident Fund Board 2026-05-24

Interest-rate floors for the first quarter of 2026: Ordinary Account 2.5% per annum; Special, MediSave and Retirement Accounts 4.0% per annum (the 4% floor on the Special, MediSave and Retirement Accounts extended by the Government to 31 December 2026). Basic Healthcare Sum for 2026: S$79,000 for members below age 65 (raised from S$75,500 in 2025). Members aged 65 and above have their Basic Healthcare Sum fixed for life at the value of the year in which they turn 65.
cpf.gov.sg
T1

Singapore Statutes Online — Attorney-General's Chambers 2026-05-24

Central Provident Fund Act 1953 (current Revised Edition) is the governing statute. Section 7 covers contributions, section 13 covers membership, sections 15 to 15D govern withdrawals (including renunciation of citizenship or PR as a withdrawal ground). The Singapore Statutes Online portal is rendered through a single-page application that returns a 403 to standard fetch tooling; citation is by Act name, section number and URL only, without verbatim statute quotation.
sso.agc.gov.sg

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CPF Contributions for New Singapore Permanent Residents

What You Need

Additional Items

Step-by-Step

Confirm your SPR conversion date and tell your employer

Begin Year-1 contributions on the Graduated/Graduated basis

Decide whether to jointly elect higher rates

Track your SPR anniversary for the Year-2 and Year-3 boundaries

Plan any voluntary top-ups under the CPF Annual Limit

If you later leave Singapore permanently, apply to withdraw your CPF

Costs

FAQ

Costs

General

After This Process

Sources

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