Central Provident Fund Act
(Chapter 36, Section 77(2))
Central Provident Fund Rules
R 3
G.N. No. S 42/1988

REVISED EDITION 1998
(1st January 1998)
[4th March 1988]
Citation
1.  These Rules may be cited as the Central Provident Fund Rules.
Definitions
2.  In these Rules —
“Board’s office” means the main office of Central Provident Fund Board at 79 Robinson Road, Singapore 068897, and includes any branch office set up by the Board from time to time;
“identity card” has the same meaning as in the National Registration Act (Cap. 201).
Registration of employer
3.—(1)  Every employer shall, when he first submits to the Board the contributions payable for his employees, apply to register himself with the Board as an employer.
[S 196/2006 wef 01/04/2006]
(2)  An application for registration under paragraph (1) shall be made in such form and manner as may be required by the Board.
[S 196/2006 wef 01/04/2006]
(3)  Upon receiving the requisite form from an employer, the Board shall register the employer and allot an employer’s reference number to him.
[S 196/2006 wef 01/04/2006]
(4)  Every registered employer who ceases to be an employer shall inform the Board in writing within one month of ceasing to be an employer.
(5)  Every employer shall forthwith inform the Board in writing of any change of address, except that an employer who changes his residential address shall be deemed to have informed the Board of such change in compliance with this paragraph upon his making a report thereof under section 8 of the National Registration Act.
Payment Advice
4.  Every employer shall as soon as any person becomes his employee forthwith obtain and complete a form known as the Payment Advice in respect of the employee and shall forward the form to the Board at the time and in the manner specified in rule 6.
Inspection of Payment Advice
5.—(1)  Subject to paragraph (3), the Board shall make available and every employer shall obtain from the Board a Payment Advice for each of his employees.
(2)  The Payment Advice shall remain the property of the Board and shall be made available for inspection by an authorised officer of the Board and shall be returned to the Board as and when the Board may direct.
(3)  The Board may, upon such conditions as it may impose, require or authorise any employer to use forms other than and in place of the forms specified in these Rules (including the Payment Advice) or to dispense with the use of such forms.
Entries to be made in Payment Advice
6.  Every employer shall, unless otherwise authorised by the Board under rule 5(3), duly complete the Payment Advice in respect of each of his employees each month and submit such forms together with the amount of contributions payable for his employees in the manner prescribed by regulations made under section 77(1)(a) of the Act.
[S 697/2002 wef 01/01/2003]
Amendment of Payment Advice
7.—(1)  An employer may amend any entry in a Payment Advice submitted under rule 6 in such manner as may be determined by the Board, prior to the Board’s acceptance of the Payment Advice.
[S 697/2002 wef 01/01/2003]
(2)  An employer who discovers any error in respect of the contributions paid or information given to the Board shall as soon as the error comes to his notice inform the Board in writing of the nature of the error and the Board shall direct how the error is to be rectified or otherwise dealt with.
(3)  No employer shall recover any part of any contribution from the wages of an employee under section 7(6A) of the Act after the end of the period prescribed for the payment of such contribution to the Fund unless —
(a)he has first paid the contributions to the Fund; and
(b)he has either —
(i)obtained the employee’s written consent for the recovery and has forwarded the consent to the Board; or
(ii)obtained the written permission of the Board for the recovery.
Recovery of contributions from more than one employer
8.—(1)  Where an employee is employed by 2 or more employers concurrently and the amounts recoverable from his wages in a month in the aggregate exceed the maximum amount prescribed in the third column of the First Schedule to the Act, the Board may, on the application by the employee, direct that the amounts recoverable from his wages by all or any of his employers be reduced so that in any month the aggregate does not exceed the maximum amount prescribed in the third column of that Schedule.
(2)  Where the Board has directed such reduction under paragraph (1), the amount payable by the employer or employers shall be as prescribed in the second column of the First Schedule to the Act less the amount of the reduction.
Voluntary contributions
9.  Where any employee desires to make a voluntary contribution to the Fund and the amount has not been deducted from his wages by his employer, he may —
(a)pay the amount in cash at any post office in Singapore duly authorised to receive money on behalf of the Board; or
(b)send the amount to the Board’s office by postal order, money order or by cheque drawn on any bank in Singapore or by such other means as the Board may direct, together with a written statement giving his full name and identity card number or his membership certificate number, as the case may be.
Record of payment
10.—(1)  The Board shall issue a record of payment in such form as may be determined by the Board for each payment of contributions to the Fund, showing the amount credited to the members of the Fund in respect of whom the contributions were paid.
(2)  An acknowledgment shall be given for all cash payments at any post office duly authorised to receive money on behalf of the Board.
Retention of record of payments
11.  Every employer shall retain all record of payments given by the Board for a period of not less than 2 years from the date on which they were issued and shall during that period make them available for inspection by any inspector appointed by the Board.
Employee to furnish information to employer
12.  Every employee shall furnish to his employer all details and produce all documents that are necessary for the completion of returns required to be made by his employer under these Rules.
Registration of employee
13.  The Board shall register any employee as a member of the Fund when it receives the first contribution for the employee in the following manner:
(a)in the case of a member who holds a Singapore identity card, the Board shall allot him a registration number which shall be the number of his identity card; and
(b)in any other case, the Board shall issue a certificate of membership for the employee and send it to his employer who shall immediately give the certificate to that employee, or if the employee is no longer in his employment, return the certificate to the Board.
Duplicate certificate
14.  Where the certificate of a member is lost or destroyed, the member may apply to the Board for a duplicate certificate and the Board may, if it sees fit, on payment of a fee of $5 issue a duplicate certificate.
Withdrawal of contributions
15.—(1)  Any application for the withdrawal of any amount standing to the credit of a member of the Fund or which was standing to the credit of that member at the time of his death shall be made in writing to the Board in such form as the Board may direct.
(2)  Any person making the application shall furnish all such information and documents as the Board may require.
Determination of age of member
16.  For the purpose of determining the age of any member of the Fund, the date of birth recorded on his identity card, if any, will normally be presumed to be correct, but the Board may require to be furnished with and take into consideration such other evidence as may be available.
Medical boards
17.  The Board may appoint one or more medical boards, each consisting of one or more medical practitioners, for —
(a)determining whether any member of the Fund satisfies any ground under section 15 (2) (d), (e), (f) or (g), (6B), (7A) (a), (b), (ba) or (c), (8) (a), (b), (c) or (d) or (15) (e)(ii) of the Act;
(b)determining whether any person who is insured under the Home Protection Insurance Scheme established and maintained by the Board under section 29(1) of the Act satisfies the ground of incapacity under section 36(2) of the Act;
(c)determining whether any person who is insured under the Dependants’ Protection Insurance Scheme established and maintained by the Board under section 41 of the Act satisfies the ground of incapacity under section 49(2) of the Act;
(d)determining whether any person is incapacitated for the purposes of the Central Provident Fund (Education Scheme) Regulations (Rg 18); and
(e)such other purposes as the Board may determine.
[S 375/2006 wef 01/07/2006]
Authorisation of withdrawals
18.—(1)  Where a withdrawal from the Fund has been authorised in favour of any person under section 15 of the Act, the Board shall —
(a)issue to that person or to any other person duly authorised as required by rule 19(2) a warrant for the amount;
(b)on the written instruction of that person, credit the amount authorised to be withdrawn to his bank account; or
(c)open a savings account in the name of that person with a bank and credit the amount authorised to be withdrawn to that account.
(2)  Payment may also be made by the Board in such other manner as the Board shall see fit in any particular case or class of cases.
Acknowledgment of payment
19.—(1)  Where payment is made on a warrant issued under rule 18, an acknowledgment for the amount specified in the warrant shall be given on the reverse of the warrant by the payee named in the warrant or by a person authorised in the manner required by paragraph (2) to receive the amount specified in the warrant and such receipt shall be a proper discharge to the Board for the sum specified therein.
(2)  Authority to any person to receive the sum as specified in rule 18 may be given by the person in whose favour the Board has authorised withdrawal by a duly executed power of attorney or by such other method as the Board shall see fit to use in any particular case or class of cases.
(3)  Where authority is given under paragraph (2) to any firm or corporation to receive the sum specified in the warrant, any person purporting to be a member or officer of such firm or corporation and who is accredited to the satisfaction of the Board may receive payment of the sum specified in the warrant and the signature of such person shall be a proper discharge to the Board for such sum.
Statistical information
20.—(1)  For the purpose of obtaining information of a statistical nature relating to employers and employees, the Board may require any employer or employee to furnish to the Board such particulars and information as the Board may consider necessary.
(2)  Every employer and employee on whom a requisition has been served shall furnish true and accurate particulars and information to the best of his knowledge and belief.
Inaccurate documents
21.  Where any document required to be completed by an employer under these Rules is incomplete, inaccurate or illegible or any impression made on it is unclear, the Board may return the document to the employer who shall, as the Board may require, either forthwith complete and return to the Board within one week of the date of return to him of that document a fresh document in place thereof or correct and return the original document within one week.
Delegation
22.  Anything which is required to be done or which may be done by the Board under these Rules may be done by an officer of the Board to whom power has been delegated for that purpose, and anything which is required to be shown to the satisfaction of the Board may be shown to the satisfaction of that officer.
Certification of entries
23.  Any officer authorised by the Board may certify copies of entries in the accounts of the Fund for the purposes of any legal proceedings under the Act.
Correspondence with members
24.—(1)  Where the Board requires to correspond with a member of the Fund, it shall send the correspondence to the member —
(a)at such address as may have been supplied to the Board by the member for such purpose; or
(b)where the member has not supplied the Board with any address at which the Board may correspond with him, at the member’s place of employment.
(2)  Subject to paragraph (3), every member shall notify the Board in writing of any change in the address at which the Board may correspond with him.
(3)  Where a member uses his residential address as the address at which the Board may correspond with him, then, if he has changed his residential address and has made a report of the change under section 8 of the National Registration Act (Cap. 201) —
(a)he shall be deemed to have notified the Board of the change in the address at which the Board may correspond with him in compliance with paragraph (2); and
(b)unless he informs the Board otherwise, the Board shall treat the new residential address as reported by him under section 8 of the National Registration Act as the address at which the Board may henceforth correspond with him.
Submission of forms, etc., through electronic means
25.  The Board may, subject to such terms and conditions as it may impose, allow any form, document or information which may be submitted under these Rules, to be submitted in such electronic form and by such electronic means as the Board may determine.
[S 697/2002 wef 01/01/2003]
[S 259/2003 wef 01/06/2003]
Forms, etc., sent or made available by the Board in electronic form
26.  The Board may send or make available to any employer any form, document or information under these Rules in electronic form and by electronic means.
[S 697/2002 wef 01/01/2003]
[S 259/2003 wef 01/06/2003]