COVID-19 Fortitude Budget: Enhancements to Jobs Support Scheme (JSS 2021)

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Apr 09, 2021

Updated: 19th Feb 2021: Extension of JSS for businesses in Tier 1 and 2 sectors.

For businesses in the Tier 1 sector – Aviation, Aerospace, and Tourism – the JSS will be extended by a further six months. From April to June 2021, these businesses will receive 30% support for wages paid, which will subsequently be lowered to 10% from July to September 2021. Those in Tier 2 sectors, such as Retail, Arts and Culture, Food services and Built environment sectors, will have the JSS extended at 10% for three months, covering wages paid up to June 2021. This excludes segments like supermarkets.

Updated on 8/4/2021: About S$370 million in government payouts under the Job Support Scheme (JSS) were erroneously credited to about 5,400 companies in October last year. Affected firms were expected to refund the excess JSS payouts either by offsetting from their future JSS payouts or in the event the future payouts were not sufficient, instalment payment arrangement will also be available for businesses that need them.

For those that have their March 2021 JSS payout delayed, they will be informed via letters and email or they can check via go.gov.sg/JSSreopeningdate

The new tranche of JSS support will cost the Government S$700 million.
Knowing Which Tier Your Business Belongs To For The JSS Payout:

Tier 1: Aviation and Aerospace, Tourism, Hospitality, Conventions and Exhibitions.

Tier 2: Food Services, Retail, Arts & Entertainment, Land Transport, Marine and Offshore, Built Environment Sector

Tier 3A: All other employers (apart from those listed in Tier 3B)

Tier 3B: Biomedical Sciences, Precision Engineering, Electronics, Financial Services, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Media

The new tranche of payout as below:

^{¹Employers under Tier 3B will not receive any JSS payout under Payout 5.}^{²Employers under Tier 3 will not receive any JSS payout under Payout 6}^{³Employers under Tiers 2 and 3 will not receive any JSS payout under Payout 7.}
Source: IRAS

How Much Is Each JSS Payout Computed?

JSS TIer	Oct 2019 To Aug 2020 Wages	Sept To Dec 2020 Wages	Jan To March 2021 Wages	Apri To Jun 2021 Wages	July To Sept 2021 Wages
Tier 1	75%	50%	50%	30%	10%
Tier 2	50%	30%	30%	10%	0%
Tier 3A	25%	10%	10%	0%	0%
Tier 3B	25%	10%	0%	0%	0%

Source: IRAS

JSS Payout will often payout on the 28th of the payout month.

If your company has an existing GIRO arrangement with IRAS or is registered for PayNow Corporate as at 28th of the payout month, you will receive a payout titled “Jobs Support Scheme” (GIRO) or “GOVT” (PayNow Corporate) in your bank account

Not sure how much your payout is? Click here to find out about your JSS Eligbility

The Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) was launched in Budget 2020 to provide wage support for employers to help them retain their local employees (Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents) by relieving their cash flow. JSS was then further enhanced in the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets when the Covid-19 situation worsened and many businesses and jobs are faced with extreme challenges that threaten their survival.

Originally, JSS covered nine months of employees’ wages from October 2019 to July 2020, and the Government co-funds between 25% - 75%, depending on the business sectors, of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages paid to each employee through direct cash subsidies to companies. JSS payouts will be in April, July and October 2020, with a special payout in May 2020. Only in April and May 2020, all firms will receive a 75% wage support due to the Circuit Breaker period.

The most recent enhancements to JSS were announced in the latest Fortitude Budget on 26th May 2020 by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, to help businesses with cash flow uncertainties that they will face after the Circuit Breaker period.

Extension of JSS to cover wages paid in August 2020 for all firms

Instead of the wage support for nine months, JSS will now cover 10 months from October 2019 to August 2020. This will be computed based on the wages paid in August 2020, and paid out in the October JSS payout.

If you would like to understand how JSS works:

The first payout in April 2020 will be based on Oct-Dec 2019 wages. For the 75% additional support for April 2020 due to Circuit Breaker, it was calculated based on October 2019 wages paid. That is why some companies may not receive the 75% wage support if they only started hiring local employees in January 2020. The adjustment for this 75% wage support will be included in the 2nd payout in July 2020.

The special payout for May 2020 will then be calculated based on 75% of November 2019 wages. This also means that, for companies that only started hiring local employees in January 2020, you will not receive any wage support in May 2020 payout. The adjustment for May’s 75% wage support will then be included the 3rd payout in October 2020.

The 2nd payout in July 2020 will be based on Feb-Apr 2020 wages, including the adjustment of April 2020’s 75% wage support. So if your company already received the full 75% wage support in April, you will only receive the base tier of either 25% or 50% depending on which sector.

Lastly, the 3rd payout in October 2020 will be based on May-Aug 2020 wages, including the adjustment of May 2020’s 75% wage support. Similarly, if your company already received the full 75% wage support in May, you will only receive the base tier of either 25% or 50% depending on which sector.

Month of Payout	Payout Details	Tier 1 Aviation and Tourism	Tier 2 Food services	Tier 3 Others
Month of Payout	Payout Details	Computation of Payout Capped at first $4,600 of gross monthly wages Based on:
Apr 2020	Payout 1	+ 75% of Oct 2019 wages + 75% of Nov 2019 wages + 75% of Dec 2019 wages	+ 50% of Oct 2019 wages + 50% of Nov 2019 wages + 50% of Dec 2019 wages	+ 25% of Oct 2019 wages + 25% of Nov 2019 wages + 25% of Dec 2019 wages
Apr 2020	Top-up as advance for Apr 2020 wages		+ 25% of Oct 2019 wages	+ 50% of Oct 2019 wages
May 2020	Advance for May 2020 wages	+ 75% of Nov 2019 wages	+ 75% of Nov 2019 wages	+ 75% of Nov 2019 wage
Jul 2020	Payout 2	+ 75% of Feb 2020 wages + 75% of Mar 2020 wages + 75% of Apr 2020 wages	+ 50% of Feb 2020 wages + 50% of Mar 2020 wages + 75% of Apr 2020 wages	+ 25% of Feb 2020 wages + 25% of Mar 2020 wages + 75% of Apr 2020 wages
Jul 2020	Adjustment for Apr 2020 advance		– 25% of Oct 2019 wages	– 50% of Oct 2019 wages
Oct 2020	Payout 3	+ 75% of May 2020 wages + 75% of Jun 2020 wages + 75% of Jul 2020 wages +75% of Aug 2020 wages	+ 75% of May 2020 wages + 50% of Jun 2020 wages + 50% of Jul 2020 wages + 50% of Aug 2020 wages	+ 75% of May 2020 wages + 25% of Jun 2020 wages + 25% of Jul 2020 wages + 25% of Aug 2020 wages
Oct 2020	Adjustment for May 2020 advance	– 75% of Nov 2019 wages	–75% of Nov 2019 wages	– 75% of Nov 2019 wages

Source: https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/Schemes/Businesses/Jobs-Support-Scheme--JSS-/#B

Firms not allowed to reopen after 1st June 2020 will receive 75% wage support

As circuit breaker measures are gradually eased, and the economy reopens in 3 phases, some businesses may not be allowed to resume operations even after 1st June 2020. JSS will continue to provide 75% wage support for these firms until August 2020, or when they are allowed to reopen, whichever is earlier.

Following which, the level of wage support will revert to the base tier. Pro-ration will be applied if operations resume in the middle of the month, i.e. a firm that resumes operations on 5th July 2020 will continue to receive 75% wage support for the first 4 days of July, and its base tier of support thereafter.

Increased wage support for firms in sectors that are more severely impacted

The list of sectors that are deemed to be directly and severely affected by travel restrictions and/or safe distancing measures has been updated in the following table. These tiers of support will apply once the employer is allowed to resume operations. This change will also be applied retrospectively to previous payouts, and employers will receive a top-up on these previous payouts by July 2020.

JSS Support	Eligible Sectors	Eligible Firms
Tier 1 75% of the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee	Aviation and Aerospace	Airlines Airport ground handlers Airport operators Aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) operators^New Aerospace manufacturing operators^New Major suppliers of parts and services for aerospace MROs and manufacturers^New Airline fleet management services operators^New Operators providing training for pilots and crews^New
	Tourism, Hospitality, Conventions and Exhibitions	Qualifying licensed hotels Qualifying licensed travel agents Qualifying gated tourist attractions Cruise lines and Cruise terminal operator Purpose-built Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) venue operator MICE and tourism event organisers^New Money changers^New Regional ferry operators^New IRAS-certified central refund agencies^New
Tier 1 (only for Jun 2020 to Aug 2020 wages) 75% of the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee	Built Environment	Built Environment contractors^New Built Environment consultants^New
Tier 2 50% of the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee	Food Services	Licensed food shops and food stalls (including hawker stalls)
	Retail	Qualifying retail outlets^New
	Arts and Entertainment	Cinema operators^New Film distributors^New Arts and Culture organisations^New
	Land Transport	Rail operators^New Point-to-Point (P2P) transport operators^New Private bus and limousine operators^New
	Marine and Offshore	Marine and Offshore ^New
Tier 3 25% of the first $4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee	All other employees	N/A

Source: https://www.iras.gov.sg/irashome/Schemes/Businesses/Jobs-Support-Scheme--JSS-/#B

JSS to cover shareholders and directors of companies

On 21st April 2020, the Government announced that JSS will be extended to cover wages of employees in a company who are also shareholders and directors of the company (shareholder-directors).

This will only be applicable to companies registered on or before 20th April 2020, and shareholder-directors’ must have Assessable Income of S$100,000 or less for the Year of Assessment 2019. May 2020 and subsequent JSS payouts will then include the wage support for these qualifying shareholder-directors. Back-payment of the first JSS payout in April 2020 for qualifying shareholder-directors will then be included in the May 2020 payout.

For shareholder-directors who have marginally missed the criteria, you can submit your appeal here. Please note that appeals will only be processed after payouts have been disbursed.

All employers will qualify for the payout as long as CPF contributions for local employees are made. To find out your eligibility on which tier of co-funding, please enquire via JSS Additional Tier eligibility, or call 1800-352-4728 (8am to 5pm from Monday to Friday).

Once again, please note that if you have reduced your worker’s wages, retrenched your worker or put your worker on no-pay leave during this period, this will affect the amount of wage subsidies you receive.

There is no need to apply for JSS. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will notify eligible employers by post of the tier of support and the amount of JSS payout payable to you.

If your company has yet to receive the payout, please enquire via go.gov.sg/payout.

Lastly, if you do not require wage support and wish to be excluded from all future JSS payouts, please sign up using the Decline JSS form.

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