Do I need to pay CPF contributions for my foreign employee who has recently obtained Singapore Permanent Residence status?

Question

Accepted Answer

Yes, CPF contributions are payable once your foreign employee obtains his Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) status. Please ensure that your employee informs you of his SPR status.

For the first two years of obtaining the SPR status, to help your employee adjust to the lower take-home pay, both you and your SPR employee will contribute CPF at graduated rates (refer to Tables 2 and 3). From the third year onwards, you and your SPR employee will contribute CPF at the full rates (refer to Table 1).

Determining your employee’s year of SPR status

The year of SPR status determines your employee’s CPF contribution rates.

First-year rate: Applies from the day your employee obtains his SPR status until the last day of the month of his first anniversary. The SPR status date is shown on his Entry Permit (Form 5/5A) issued by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Second-year rate: Applies from the month following his first anniversary as an SPR until the last day of the month of his second anniversary.

Third-year rate: Applies from the month following his second anniversary as an SPR onwards.

Example

If your employee obtained his SPR status on 15 January 2026, the start and end dates for first, second and third year of obtaining SPR status are shown in the table below:

Years of obtaining SPR status	Starts from	Ends on
First year	15 January 2026	31 January 2027
Second year	1 February 2027	31 January 2028
Third year	1 February 2028	Not applicable

Computing CPF contributions

For Ordinary Wages (OW), you will need to pay CPF contributions on the pro-rated OW. For Additional Wages (AW), CPF contributions are required depending on when the AW is payable to your employee.

Example

Assuming your employee obtains his SPR status on 15 March 2026 and he receives OW and AW for March 2026.

For OW

CPF contribution is required on the pro-rated wages from 15 to 31 March 2026.

For AW

• CPF contribution is not required on the AW if it is payable while the employee was a foreigner i.e. before 15 March 2026.

• CPF contribution is required on the AW if it is payable on or after 15 March 2026.

Do I need to pay CPF contributions for my foreign employee who has recently obtained Singapore Permanent Residence status?

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