2nd Nov marks an important date for many of us. There are changes in the CPF act that will potentially affect us. Please view the original article here. I will help to interpret these changes to those that are affected and how these changes will affect them.

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For Retirement Sum Scheme (RSS) Members

If you born before 1958 or have less than $60,000 in your Retirement Account (RA) at age 65, you are probably be in this category. RSS was the main payout scheme prior to the CPF Life.

For the RSS, it will allow you to receive a monthly payout until your retirement saving is depleted. If you continue to work and contribute to your Ordinary Account (OA) and Special Account (SA), the money will sit in your respective accounts. To continue to receive payouts, you will have to apply to transfer money from your OA and SA to RA.

With the new changes, OA and SA saving will be automatically transferred to the RA. There is no need to apply to transfer the money.

I believe this is to make it easier for money to be received by RSS members. Previously, the application might have been a cumbersome process.

For CPF Life Members

As compared to RSS, CPF Life allows you receive monthly payout no matter how long you live.

If you are already receiving your monthly payouts and wishes to contribute more to your RA for higher CPF Life payout, you will have to apply for it.

With the new changes, your new contribution to the RA will be automatically transferred. There is no need to apply to transfer the money.

For People Who Top Up Their CPF

From 1 Jan 2022, tax reliefs will be provided to the giver who tops up the account. The cap for tax reliefs will be set at $8,000 for top up to your Retirement Sum Top Up (RSTU) and voluntary contribution to Medisave Account (MA) for employees.

If you wish to contribute cash top up to your loved ones’ account, the tax relief will be $8,000. This will bring the total to be $16,000 a year.

The top up limit for Medisave will just depend on Basic Healthcare Sum (BHS) moving forward.

If you wish to reduce your taxes with tax reliefs, please be aware of the limits, run your numbers before contributing.

For People Making A Estate Claim From CPF

For un-nominated CPF-monies more than $10,000, all eligible beneficiaries must submit their information and supporting documents to the Public Trustee’s Office (PTO). This could be a long process.

For un-nominated CPF-monies less than $10,000, a beneficiary representative may be appointed to represent all eligible beneficiaries and make one consolidated claim for the dead CPF member’s un-nominated monies.

This representative must be an eligible beneficiary according to the rules of distribution under the Intestate Succession Act or the Administration of Muslim Law Act.

Preferably, you should do you CPF nomination. It is free and took less than 5 minutes for me.

Others

CPF will not retain unclaimed CPF monies after 6 months. No interest will be payable after that. I believe this is to encourage people to quickly claim from CPF.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I believe that the new changes are for the better. Certain policies are “smoother” and clearer. Hope it benefits you in the right way. Here’s a summary. In an event of a doubt, please refer back to the CPF Amendment Bill Highlights 2021 here.

Let me know what you think about the changes below.

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Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.  

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The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.