1.54m S'poreans to get GST vouchers & Medisave top-ups
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1.54m Singaporeans to get GST vouchers, Medisave top-ups this year
SINGAPORE: About 1.54 million Singaporeans will get S$890 million worth of GST vouchers and Medisave top-ups this year, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday (Jun 20).Eligible citizens will receive letters by Jul 1 informing them of their GST voucher and other Budget benefits.Under the GST voucher benefits, 1.3 million eligible Singaporeans will receive up to S$300 in cash. In addition, as announced at Budget 2016, households will also get a one-off special payment of up to S$200 in cash.This means that eligible recipients will receive up to S$500 in cash this year, which will be disbursed in two payments in August and November.About 425,000 Singaporeans aged 65 years and above will also receive a Medisave top-up of up to S$450 in August.In addition, Singaporeans born on or before Dec 31, 1959 (57 years and above in 2016) and do not receive Pioneer Generation benefits will receive a Medisave top-up of up to S$200 each year until 2018. The top-up for this year will also be made in August 2016.Pioneers will receive their Pioneer Generation Medisave top-ups of S$200 to S$800 in July.Instead of waiting for notification letters, Singaporeans can sign up to receive SMS notifications informing them of whether they are eligible for GST voucher benefits, the ministry said.All GST voucher recipients aged 21 to 35 years old will receive a letter asking them to log in to the GST voucher website with their SingPass to view the benefits they will get and to sign up for SMS notifications. A “small group of other citizens” will also receive such letters, while the remaining recipients will continue to receive letters in the current format which lists all of their benefits.“The Government will review whether to do away with hardcopy notification letters in future and only send notifications via SMS in order to go paperless and be more eco-friendly,” the ministry said.Details on the GST voucher can be found at www.gstvoucher.gov.sg, and information on the other Budget benefits can be found at www.singaporebudget.gov.sg.- CNA/ek -
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