SINGAPORE, July 20 — More than 140,000 employers will be receiving over S$4 billion (RM12.25 billion) in wage payouts under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) from July 29, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said in a Facebook post yesterday.

The subsidies will cover up to 75 per cent of the first S$4,600 of each local employee’s salary for February and March.

Employers in the aviation and tourism sectors will receive 75 per cent support while those in the food services, retail, arts and entertainment, land transport, and marine and offshore sectors will receive 50 per cent wage support.

Employers in all other sectors will receive 25 per cent support.

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Employers who have made mandatory CPF contributions for their local employees will be qualified to receive the JSS payouts.

With the latest tranche of payouts, a total of over S$15 billion would have been disbursed to 1.9 million local employees since the scheme was unveiled in February, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) in a joint release.

“I urge all employers to do your utmost to retain your staff, and to take the opportunity to transform your operations and upskill your employees during this period,” said Heng, who is also Finance Minister.

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“Together, we can emerge stronger from this crisis.”

Aside from the July payout, the government will also subsidise 75 per cent of wages paid in April during the circuit breaker period. 

The authorities said part of this wage support was disbursed as an advance in the previous payout in April to provide immediate cash flow support. 

Since the amount disbursed then was calculated based on the employees’ salary in October last year, necessary adjustments will be made in the upcoming payout in July in accordance with actual wages paid in April, they said.

Eligible employers will be notified by post of their payout amount, or they can log in to the myTax Portal online to view the electronic copy of the letter. 

Employers with PayNow Corporate or Giro arrangements with Iras can expect to receive the payouts earlier from July 29. All other employers will receive their cheques from August 4.

Employers must ensure that mandatory CPF contributions made for their employees are accurate in order to receive the right amount of wage subsidies. 

Any employer who attempts to abuse the scheme will face severe penalties. 

Other than having their payouts denied, offenders can be charged under Section 420 of the Penal code. If found guilty, they can be jailed up to 10 years and fined.

As part of the checks for JSS eligibility, MOF and Iras said a small number of employers will receive a letter from the authorities asking them to verify a self-review of their CPF contributions and to provide declarations or documents to substantiate their eligibility for the payouts.

During this process, their July payouts will be withheld temporarily, pending the self-review and verifications from Iras. 

Once the information is in order, employers will receive the payouts promptly. — TODAY