The JSS was announced at Budget 2020, and further enhanced at the Resilience, Solidarity and Fortitude Budgets. The scheme was introduced to provide wage support to employers and help companies to retain their local employees during the period of economic uncertainty. On 17 August 2020, further refinements were made to the JSS as below.
The following are the key basic features of the JSS:
- Employers will receive a 25% to 75% cash grant on the gross monthly wages of each local employee to whom mandatory Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions were made for the 10-month period up until August 2020 and a 10% to 50% cash grant on the same in the subsequent 7 month-period, from September 2020 to March 2021. The monthly wage cap will be S$4,600 per local employee; and
- Employers will receive five (5) main JSS payouts in April 2020, July 2020, October 2020, March 2021 and June 2021, with an additional special payout in May 2020. The level and duration of support each employer receives depends on the sector in which the employer operates.
The JSS scheme also cover the wages of employees of a company who are also shareholders and directors of the company (shareholder-directors), subject to meeting certain conditions1.
To support firms during the circuit breaker period, wage support for the months of April and May 2020 were topped-up to 75% for all firms, regardless of business sector.
As the Circuit Breaker measures were eased, employers whose firms are not yet allowed to resume operations will continue to receive 75% wage support. This will continue throughout the period for which they are not allowed to resume operations, or until August 2020, whichever is earlier. Thereafter, employers whose firms are still not allowed to resume operations, will receive 50% wage support throughout the period that they are not allowed to resume operations, or until March 2021, whichever is earlier. Employers allowed to resume operations will revert to receiving their base tier of support.
To facilitate fast disbursement of the JSS payout, the April 2020 wage top-up will first be computed based on wages paid in October 2019 and the May 2020 wage top-up will first be computed based on wages paid in November 2019. Subsequent JSS payouts will be adjusted to account for actual wages paid in April 2020 compared to October 2019 and actual wages paid in May 2020 compared to November 2019.
The table below illustrates the payment of the JSS under various tranches of payout:
|
|
Quantum of JSS Payout made to the Employer (capped at the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages) |
Timeline for the JSS Payout |
|
Payout 1 |
+75% of October 2019 Wages +25% of November 2019 Wages +25% of December 2019 Wages |
April 2020 |
|
Additional Payout in |
+75% of November 2019 Wages |
May 20202 or Early June 2020 |
|
Payout 2 |
+25% of February 2020 Wages +25% of March 2020 Wages +(75% of April 2020 Wages - 50% of October 2019 Wages)3 |
End July 2020 |
|
Payout 3 |
+(75% of May 2020 Wages - 75% of November 2019 Wages)4 +25% of June 2020 Wages +25% of July 2020 Wages +25% of August 2020 Wages |
End October 2020 |
|
Payout 4 |
September 2020 to December 2020 wages |
End March 2021 |
|
Payout 5 |
January 2021 to March 2021 wages |
End June 2021 |
Under the extended JSS from September 2020 till March 2021, it is noted that the following sectors are supported at the following tiers:
- Tier 1 sectors will receive 50% JSS support for wages paid from September 2020 to March 2021.
- Tier 2 sectors will receive 30% JSS support for wages paid from September 2020 to March 2021.
- Tier 3 sectors will receive 10% JSS support for wages paid from September 2020 to March 2021. This is with the exception of selected Tier 3 sectors (i.e. Financial Services, Information and Communications Technology and Media, Biomedical Sciences, Precision Engineering, Electronics and Online Retail and Supermarkets) which will receive 10% JSS support for wages paid from September to December 2020. JSS support for these selected sectors will cease after December 2020.
- Employers in the Built Environment sector will receive Tier 1 JSS support (at 50%) for wages paid in September 2020 and October 2020. Thereafter, Tier 2 (30%) support for wages paid from November 2020 to March 2021.
The table below shows the level of support for the various Tiers (1 to 3B) under the JSS:
|
|
Businesses Supported |
Quantum of JSS Payout made to the Employer |
|
Tier 1 |
|
75% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee) for wages paid from Oct 2019 till August 2020. 50% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee) for wages paid from September 2020 till March 2021.
|
|
Tier 1(only for June 2020 to October 2020 wages); Tier 2 thereafter |
|
75% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from June 2020 till August 2020. 50% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from September 2020 till October 2020. 30% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from November 2020 till March 2021.
|
|
Tier 1(only for June 2020 to October 2020 wages); Tier 2 thereafter |
|
75% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from June 2020 till August 2020. 50% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from September 2020 till October 2020. 30% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from November 2020 till March 2021. |
|
Tier 2 |
|
50% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from October 2019 till August 2020. 30% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from September 2020 till March 2021.
|
|
Tier 3A (JSS support till March 2021) |
|
25% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from October 2019 till August 2020. 10% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from September 2020 till March 2021. |
|
Tier 3B |
|
25% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from October 2019 till August 2020. 10% of the first S$4,600 of gross monthly wages per local employee for wages paid from September 2020 till December 2020.
|
Except for Government organisations (local and foreign) and representative offices, all employers (who have made CPF contributions for their resident Singapore citizen and Permanent resident employees) are eligible for the JSS.
The grant will be computed based on CPF contribution data. Employers do not need to apply for the JSS and employers who are eligible for the additional tier of support under the JSS will be informed closer to the date of the first payout.
2For employers on PayNow or having GIRO arrangement with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
3This adjustment is for the temporary JSS enhancement for the month of April 2020. Any negative quantum for a single employee will be offset from the overall JSS payout for the employer.
4Any negative quantum for a single employee will be offset from the overall JSS payout for the employer.
