Your Singapore PR starts CPF deductions from your first payslip, but the money stays yours.
New PRs pay a lower graduated rate for two years. From year three, 37 percent of your pay goes into CPF: 20 percent from you, 17 percent from your employer.
Income tax goes to IRAS and stays gone. CPF goes into accounts in your name, set aside for a home, medical bills and retirement.
The rates
The CPF Board eases new PRs in with graduated rates. For PRs aged 55 or younger:
Year as PR
You pay
Employer pays
Year 1
5%
4%
Year 2
15%
9%
Year 3 onward
20%
17%
From year three, the total reaches 37 percent, the full rate every citizen pays.
Only the first S$8,000 of your monthly salary counts for CPF. The CPF Board raised that ceiling on 1 January 2026. Pay above it reaches you in full.
Want the bigger deduction from the start? You and your employer can apply together to the CPF Board to pay the full rate and skip the graduated years. The employer's share lands in your account.
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Where it goes
Your CPF splits into three accounts.
Ordinary Account: pays for an HDB flat, the monthly housing loan, and part of the stamp duty.
MediSave Account: pays hospital bills and MediShield Life premiums, the national health insurance.
Special Account: builds toward CPF LIFE, the monthly payout after you stop working. It later turns into the Retirement Account.
Leaving for good
Give up your PR and leave Singapore and West Malaysia for good, and you can apply to close your CPF account. You withdraw everything: your contributions, your employer's, and the interest.
The CPF Board takes around 18 weeks to verify your claim. It pays into a bank account, so keep your Singapore bank account open until the transfer clears.
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Before you say yes
If you send most of your sweldo home, a lighter take-home can hurt in the months you feel the gap.
PR gives back a shot at your own HDB flat, healthcare and school fees closer to a citizen's, and the freedom to switch jobs without a new work pass.
PR also carries duties, like the Re-Entry Permit you must not let lapse.
Check the numbers
Rates and the wage ceiling shift almost every year, and the ceiling has climbed three years in a row. Confirm current figures with the CPF Board and MOM.
