Between next month and Nov this year, 1.7mil Singaporeans will receive a total of S$1bil worth of Goods and Services Tax cash vouchers and Medisave top-ups, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF).
In a statement on Wed (26 Jun), MOF announced that those eligible for the vouchers and top-ups will be notified by 5 Jul via text messages and/or letters.
Citizens may also use their SingPass to view their eligibility for said benefits online.
Aimed at lower and middle-income Singaporeans, the vouchers will offset part of their GST spending, while the Medisave top-ups will serve the Pioneer Generation and Merdeka Generation seniors.
Approximately 1.4mil eligible citizens will receive up to S$300 in GST vouchers, amounting to S$410 million in total in Aug.
Around 570,000 senior citizens from the Pioneer and Merdeka Generations will benefit from around S$57 mil worth of Medisave top-ups.
A Pioneer Generation citizen aged 85 this year and living in an HDB flat will receive S$1,250 in MediSave top-ups while a Merdeka Generation citizen aged 65 this year and living in an HDB flat will receive $450 in MediSave top-ups in Aug.
Singaporeans who were born on or before 31 Dec 1969 – aged 50 years and above this year – and do not receive Pioneer Generation or Merdeka Generation benefits will each receive a yearly MediSave top-up of S$100 from this year to 2023 in their MediSave accounts in Aug.
The top-up will benefit about 570,000 citizens in 2019 and will amount to about S$57mil.
Most citizens will automatically receive their voucher payouts if they have signed up for it or any other government payout scheme in the past.
Citizens who have not signed up for GST voucher payouts or past government payouts, they will be invited to do so, and have until 31 Dec to sign up online or through forms at the Community Centres.
Citizens who have not provided their bank account details are encouraged to do so here to receive their cash payouts earlier. Otherwise, they will receive their GST cash voucher payout via cheques about two weeks later than direct bank crediting.
Eligible HDB households will also receive a GST U-Save voucher of up to S$100, depending on the household’s HDB flat type, which includes an additional U-Save of S$20 a year from this year to 2021.
The payout will be made every three months to help offset utilities bills directly, said MOF.
The U-Save benefits amount to about S$300mil annually and will benefit about 930,000 eligible Singaporean HDB households.
More details on the GST vouchers can be found here, while information on the other benefits announced in Budget 2019 can be found here.