Thursday 2 July 2015

2015 GST Voucher benefits in the mail from July 2015

From today, about 1.6 million Singaporeans will receive letters detailing what they will get
By Priscilla Goy, The Straits Times, 1 Jul 2015

Starting today, about 1.6 million Singaporeans will receive letters informing them of their 2015 Goods and Services Tax (GST) Voucher benefits.

The letters will also inform them of other Budget benefits such as Medisave top-ups and service and conservancy charges (S&CC) rebates.

The GST Voucher scheme is given in three parts - the cash component, Medisave and Utilities-Save (U-Save). It aims to help lower- and middle-income households with their expenses.

It was announced in this year's Budget that lower-income Singaporeans will get a permanent increase of $50 in the cash component, which is given out yearly. About 1.3 million people will get this on Aug 1. They will get a total of up to $300 in this cash component this year.

Under the GST Voucher scheme, eligible Singaporeans aged 55 and above can also receive the one-off Seniors' Bonus of $150 to $600 in cash. This will benefit more than 660,000 older folk. Those receiving $600 from the Seniors' Bonus will get half the payouts in August and half in November; the rest will receive all the payouts in August.

About 400,000 Singaporeans aged 65 and above will also receive GST Voucher - Medisave top-ups of up to $450 on Aug 1.

On top of this, Singaporean seniors aged 56 and above this year can get additional Medisave top-ups. Members of the pioneer generation can receive additional top-ups of $200 to $800 annually. The rest will receive top-ups of $100 or $200 annually from 2014 to 2018, as announced in last year's Budget.

More than 800,000 households will also receive up to $65 in utilities rebates this month, under the GST Voucher - U-Save scheme.

About 800,000 households will also receive the S&CC rebate, which will offset half a month to one month of charges, depending on their Housing Board flat type.

• Information on the GST Voucher scheme can be found at www.gstvoucher.gov.sg. Details on the other Budget benefits are at www.singaporebudget.gov.sg

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