SERVICE · SINGAPORE
Payroll that is right, and on time, every month.
Salaries, CPF, SDL and payslips computed correctly every month, with IR8A handled at year end and IR21 handled whenever a foreign employee leaves. Our agents run the numbers from your records; your accountant checks every run before anyone is paid.
Facts checked on 12 September 2026
WHAT THIS COVERS
The work, in plain terms.
Running payroll in Singapore is not just calculating a salary. Every month you are also working out CPF contributions for each employee, the Skills Development Levy, and — for employees of the relevant community — Self-Help Group contributions to CDAC, ECF, MBMF or SINDA. Each employee needs an itemised payslip, and the net amounts need to reach the right bank accounts through a payment file your bank will accept. Get any one of these wrong across a whole team and the error repeats every month until someone catches it.
On top of the monthly cycle sits a year-end layer. Every employer must report each employee's income for the year to IRAS on Form IR8A, and once you have five or more employees this has to go through the Auto-Inclusion Scheme rather than being left to employees to declare themselves. Bonuses, leave taken and any changes during the year all have to be reflected correctly in these year-end figures, which means the monthly numbers and the year-end numbers have to agree with each other.
There is also a layer specific to foreign staff. Foreign employees on work passes are outside the CPF system altogether — no CPF is contributed for them — but when one of them leaves your employment, you become responsible for filing IR21 and clearing their tax with IRAS before they go. Missing this step, or missing a CPF rate change when a local employee has a birthday or their residency status changes, are exactly the kind of quiet errors that payroll is prone to.
WHO IT'S FOR
Built for SMEs like these.
First-time employer
You have just hired your first employee, or are about to, and have never run payroll before. You need someone to set up the records, the CPF submission, the payslips and the bank file correctly from day one, rather than learning the rules by making mistakes on real salaries.
5–25 staff, outgrowing a spreadsheet
Payroll has been a spreadsheet since the company was small, and it is starting to show: a missed CPF rate change, a payslip that went out late, a bonus that was calculated by hand and then queried. You need a process that scales past the size where one person can hold it all in their head.
Mixed local and foreign workforce
Your team includes both CPF-contributing local employees and foreign employees on work passes, which means two different sets of rules running side by side every month, plus IR21 clearance whenever a foreign employee leaves. You want one payroll process that keeps both correct.
THE SINGAPORE RULES
What the regulator expects.
Payroll in Singapore sits at the intersection of three separate authorities, each with its own calendar. CPF Board sets the contribution rates and the monthly payment deadline; IRAS sets the annual reporting requirements for employment income; and MOM sets the employment standards that govern payslips, salary timing and written terms. None of these calendars line up with each other, and missing one is not excused by having met another.
The table below sets out what applies to a typical Singapore payroll — the rates and figures that decide how much is deducted, when payments and filings are due, and what happens if a deadline is missed. Foreign employees are treated differently under CPF, which is covered in the note beneath the table.
| Requirement | What applies |
|---|---|
| CPF contribution deadline | Employer CPF contributions for a given month's wages are due by the 14th of the following month. Pay late and CPF Board charges interest of 1.5% per month, with a minimum of S$5, and can prosecute employers who do not pay at all. |
| CPF contribution rates | Rates are tiered by age. For employees aged 55 and below, the employer contributes 17% of wages and the employee contributes 20%, both calculated on wages up to the ordinary wage ceiling. |
| Ordinary wage ceiling | The monthly ordinary wage ceiling is S$7,400 during 2025, rising to S$8,000 from 1 January 2026 — CPF is calculated on wages up to this monthly limit. There is also an annual wage ceiling of S$102,000 across the year. |
| Skills Development Levy (SDL) | SDL is payable for every employee at 0.25% of monthly wages, subject to a minimum of S$2 and a maximum of S$11.25 per employee, collected together with CPF contributions. |
| Self-Help Group (SHG) funds | CDAC, ECF, MBMF and SINDA contributions are collected alongside CPF for employees of the relevant community, based on wages, unless the employee has opted out of the applicable fund. |
| Itemised payslips | The Employment Act requires an itemised payslip for every employee, issued together with payment or within three working days of it, setting out gross pay, deductions and net pay. |
| Salary payment timing | Salary must be paid within seven days of the end of the salary period it covers, whether that period is a calendar month or another agreed cycle. |
| Key Employment Terms (KETs) | Employers must issue Key Employment Terms in writing within 14 days of an employee starting work, covering matters such as salary, working hours and leave entitlements. |
| IR8A and the Auto-Inclusion Scheme | Form IR8A, reporting each employee's income for the year, must be submitted to IRAS by 1 March. The Auto-Inclusion Scheme is compulsory for employers with five or more employees. |
| IR21 tax clearance | When a foreign employee stops working for you and leaves Singapore, IR21 must be filed and tax clearance obtained at least one month before they leave, so the employer is not left liable for their outstanding tax. |
CPF applies to Singapore citizens and permanent residents only. Foreign employees on work passes have no CPF contributions at all, but their pass conditions and any levies are MOM matters that we track alongside payroll rather than through CPF Board.
HOW WE HANDLE IT
Step by step, every period.
- 01
Set-up
Before the first payroll run, we set up employee records, issue Key Employment Terms in writing, arrange CPF submission access, and agree the bank file format your bank accepts. This groundwork means every later run draws on the same accurate data instead of being rebuilt from scratch each month.
- 02
Monthly input
Each month, changes are collected: new hires, leavers, bonuses awarded, overtime worked and leave taken. The agent gathers this input alongside standing salary data, flags anything inconsistent — a leaver still marked active, for instance — and prepares it for the computation step that follows.
- 03
Compute
The agent calculates gross-to-net pay for every employee, applying the correct age-tiered CPF rates, the Skills Development Levy, and any Self-Help Group contributions due for that employee, then produces the payslip figures and the totals owed to CPF Board and the other bodies these deductions are paid to.
- 04
Review
Your accountant checks every run before anything is paid — confirming CPF rates match each employee's age and residency status, that wage ceilings have been applied correctly, and that anything the agent flagged during monthly input has been properly resolved, before approving the run to proceed.
- 05
Pay and submit
Once approved, payslips are issued, the bank payment file is prepared, and the CPF, SDL and SHG submission is made to CPF Board by the 14th of the following month. Payment and submission both come from the same reviewed figures, so nothing is recalculated twice.
- 06
Year-end
At year end, IR8A forms are prepared and submitted through the Auto-Inclusion Scheme by 1 March, covering each employee's income for the year just finished. Where a foreign employee has left the company during the year, IR21 tax clearance is filed at least one month before they leave.
AGENTS + ACCOUNTANT
Who does what.
Payroll combines high-volume arithmetic with decisions that carry real consequences if they are got wrong. Calculating CPF for a whole team at different ages, applying the correct wage ceilings, and assembling payslips every month is repetitive, rules-based work that an agent can do quickly and consistently, run after run. Deciding how an unusual case is handled — a CPF rate that changes after a birthday, a leaver whose IR21 clearance is due, a bonus that interacts with the annual wage ceiling — needs someone who understands what happens if it is handled wrongly. That is why every run is computed by an agent and checked by your named accountant before a single payment leaves the bank.
- Compute salaries, CPF contributions and SDL
- Prepare payslips and the bank payment file
- Prepare IR8A forms at year-end
- Reviews each payroll run before it goes out
- Handles new hires, leavers and bonuses correctly
WHAT GOES WRONG WITHOUT IT
The expensive mistakes.
Late CPF payment
Missing the 14th-of-the-month deadline is easy when payroll is run by hand and someone is away. CPF Board charges interest of 1.5% per month, with a minimum of S$5, on the overdue amount, and persistent late payment can lead to prosecution — an avoidable cost on top of the disruption of an unplanned charge.
Wrong CPF rate after a birthday or PR status change
CPF rates are tiered by age, so an employee's contribution rate can change on their birthday, and again if their permanent residency status changes. A payroll process that does not track these events keeps applying the old rate, under- or over-contributing for months before anyone notices.
Missing payslips or Key Employment Terms
Itemised payslips and written Key Employment Terms are both required under the Employment Act, each with its own deadline — payslips within three working days of payment, KETs within 14 days of starting. Skipping either is a common oversight for a growing employer and exposes the business to enforcement action.
Forgetting IR21
When a foreign employee leaves, the employer must file IR21 and clear their tax at least one month beforehand. Miss this step and the employer can be left liable for the departing employee's outstanding tax — a cost that tracking departures against the IR21 deadline avoids entirely.
Bonus and wage-ceiling errors at year-end
Bonuses paid at year end interact with wage ceilings in ways that are easy to miscalculate by hand, especially across employees on different CPF rates. Getting this wrong distorts both the CPF actually contributed for the year and the income figures reported on IR8A.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Accurate payroll and CPF, on time every month.
- Monthly payroll computed and reviewed by your accountant before anything is paid
- Itemised payslips for every employee, issued on time
- A bank payment file ready for you to release
- CPF, SDL and SHG contributions submitted to CPF Board by the 14th
- IR8A and Auto-Inclusion Scheme filing completed by 1 March each year
- IR21 tax clearance handled whenever a foreign employee leaves
- Leave, new hires and headcount changes reflected correctly in every run
INCLUDED IN YOUR PACKAGE
Included from the Growth package.
Your full finance function for a growing team. Every package is a fixed monthly fee with a named accountant on your file — see what each one includes and choose the right starting point.
Common questions.
When do I need to submit CPF?
Employer CPF contributions are due by the 14th of the month following the one the wages relate to. Miss this and CPF Board charges interest of 1.5% per month, with a minimum of S$5, and can prosecute employers who consistently fail to pay. We calculate and submit CPF as part of the monthly run, timed to clear before the deadline, so this is not something you need to track yourself.
Do foreign employees get CPF?
No. CPF applies only to Singapore citizens and permanent residents. Foreign employees on work passes sit outside the CPF system entirely, though their pass conditions and any levies are tracked by MOM rather than CPF Board. What does apply to foreign employees is IR21 tax clearance when they leave your employment, which we handle as part of running your payroll.
What is AIS and does it apply to me?
The Auto-Inclusion Scheme is how employers submit employees' IR8A income information directly to IRAS instead of leaving employees to declare it themselves. It becomes compulsory once you have five or more employees, though IR8A must be submitted by 1 March each year regardless of headcount. We prepare and file this as part of the year-end step of your payroll.
Can you handle government-paid leave claims?
Leave that affects a payroll run is captured during the monthly input step, alongside new hires, leavers and overtime, so it is reflected correctly in that month's gross-to-net figures. Where a claim needs to be lodged with a government agency on the back of leave taken, your accountant reviews what applies to that employee and coordinates it as part of the payroll relationship.
How do bonuses affect CPF?
Bonuses are added to salary for CPF purposes, contributed at the same age-tiered rates as monthly wages, but tested against the annual wage ceiling of S$102,000 rather than the monthly ceiling. Because that annual figure depends on everything already paid earlier in the year, getting a bonus right means keeping an accurate running total — which is exactly what your payroll agent tracks for you.
What do I send you each month?
Very little beyond what has changed: new hires, resignations, bonuses awarded, overtime worked and leave taken. Standing information — salaries, CPF details, bank accounts, Key Employment Terms — is already on file once you are set up, so the monthly ask is limited to changes rather than a full data set every time.
Do you pay the salaries or do we?
We prepare the bank payment file from the figures your accountant has reviewed, but the file is loaded and released through your own bank account, so you retain control over money leaving the business. The same applies to CPF, SDL and SHG payments — submitted for the amounts we calculate, authorised by you.
RELATED GUIDES
Read up before you decide.
Payroll & CPF guide
CPF Contribution Rates 2026: Employer's Guide, Including New PRs
Every CPF rate table employers actually need — full 2026 rates by age band, graduated rates for first- and second-year PRs, wage ceilings and the 2027 changes.
Payroll & CPF guide
IR8A and the Auto-Inclusion Scheme: Employer's Guide
Who must be in AIS, what IR8A and its appendices cover, the 1 March deadline, and the reporting mistakes employers only discover when employees file.
Payroll & CPF guide
CPF for Employers in Singapore: First-Hire Guide
What SMEs need to know before hiring their first employee, from CPF contribution rates and due dates to EZPay and common payroll mistakes.
Payroll & CPF guide
IR21 Tax Clearance in Singapore: Employer's Guide
When a foreign or SPR employee leaves, you must file Form IR21 and withhold their final pay. Who is exempt, the deadlines, and the penalties that changed.
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