[ad_1]
SINGAPORE: Approximately 950,000 Singaporean households living in Housing and Development Board (HDB) apartments will receive their quarterly GST Voucher U-Save refund this month, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on Thursday (April 1).
Households will receive an additional 50 percent of their regular U-Save in fiscal year 2021, which will be credited in April and July, the ministry said in a press release.
In total, the regular U-Save and U-Save special payment will amount to S $ 460 million in reimbursements this financial year to help families with household expenses.
The U-Save special payment is part of the S $ 900 million Home Support Package to provide additional support to families with their expenses. The package was announced during Budget 2021 in February. Low to middle income families will receive more support.
READ: Budget 2021: S $ 900 million Home Support Package to help families with expenses
Typically, 1 and 2 bedroom HDB apartment homes receive U-Save rebates averaging approximately three to four months from their utility bills.
Along with the special U-Save payment, these households will receive rebates equivalent to about four and a half to six months of their utility bills this year, the MOF said.
Households living in 3- and 4-bedroom apartments typically receive reimbursements from U-Save averaging one to two months of their utility bills. They will receive support equivalent to about a month and a half to three of their utility bills this year.
Details of the regular GST U-Save voucher and special payment. (Image: Ministry of Finance)
Households whose members own more than one property are not eligible for the U-Save rebate.
Eligible households will receive their regular GST U-Save coupon refunds for four quarters: April, July, October, and January 2022.
In addition to the regular U-Save rebate, eligible households will receive their special payments for two quarters in April and July.
U-Save’s regular rebates in April, July and October include an additional S $ 5 per quarter from January 2019 to December 2021. This was announced in the 2018 budget to mitigate the introduction of the carbon tax, the MOF said. Starting in January 2022, the regular U-Save rebate that households receive will no longer include the additional S $ 5.
The GST voucher program was introduced by the government in 2021 to help low- and middle-income Singaporeans offset some of their GST expenses.
It consists of three components: Cash, MediSave, and U-Save.
