Employer’s Guide to CPF Contribution Rates in Singapore (2026 and 2027)

By Lucas Seah, Founder of Excellence Singapore Group | Last Updated: October 2026

For employees aged 55 and below, the employer CPF contribution rate in Singapore is 17 percent and the employee share is 20 percent, a combined 37 percent of monthly wages up to the S$8,000 Ordinary Wage ceiling. Rates step down with age, and they rise again for senior workers from 1 January 2027. This guide gives employers the full rate table by age, the wage ceilings, payment deadlines, and the common mistakes that trip up Singapore payroll.

Key Takeaways

• For employees 55 and below, employers pay 17 percent and employees pay 20 percent, a total of 37 percent of wages, on Ordinary Wages up to the S$8,000 monthly ceiling.
• CPF rates step down by age: 34 percent (above 55 to 60), 25 percent (above 60 to 65), 16.5 percent (above 65 to 70), and 12.5 percent (above 70) in 2026.
• From 1 January 2027, senior-worker rates rise again: above 55 to 60 goes to 35.5 percent total and above 60 to 65 goes to 26 percent total.
• The Ordinary Wage ceiling is S$8,000 a month and the annual CPF salary ceiling is S$102,000 (Ordinary Wages plus Additional Wages).
• Bonuses are Additional Wages: CPF applies only up to S$102,000 minus the year’s Ordinary Wages subject to CPF, so an employee earning S$8,000 or more every month of the year has S$6,000 of room for CPF on a bonus.
• New Permanent Residents contribute at lower graduated rates in their first two years of PR status; for those aged 55 and below, 9% in total in the first year and 24% in the second.
• CPF is payable only for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, due by the last day of the month, with enforcement if unpaid by the 14th of the next month.

What are the employer CPF contribution rates in 2026?

For most employees, the employer pays a share and the employee pays a share, both calculated on the same wages up to the contribution ceiling. For an employee aged 55 and below, the employer contributes 17 percent and the employee contributes 20 percent, a total of 37 percent. The rates then taper with age. These are the rates that apply from 1 January 2026 for employees earning more than S$750 a month, as published by the CPF Board.

The table below is the one most employers come here for. It is the 2026 rate by age, with the 2027 change shown alongside so you can plan ahead.

Swipe sideways to see the full table →

The chart shows how the employer and employee shares move across the age bands in 2026.

A few practical points. CPF is calculated on wages up to the Ordinary Wage ceiling, so the employer share for a 55-and-below employee is 17 percent of wages up to S$8,000, capped at S$1,360 a month on Ordinary Wages. The employee share is deducted from gross pay and shown on the itemised payslip; the employer share is paid on top, so the true cost of an employee is the gross salary plus the employer CPF. If you want to see the take-home and employer-cost split for a given salary, use our Singapore take-home salary calculator.

What changes on 1 January 2027?

The CPF rates for senior workers rise again from 1 January 2027. This is the next step in the multi-year increase for older employees, and only two age bands are affected. According to the CPF Board, from 1 January 2027:

• For employees above 55 to 60, the total rate rises from 34 percent to 35.5 percent. The employer share goes from 16 percent to 16.5 percent (up 0.5 percentage points) and the employee share goes from 18 percent to 19 percent (up 1 percentage point).
• For employees above 60 to 65, the total rate rises from 25 percent to 26 percent. The employer share goes from 12.5 percent to 13 percent and the employee share goes from 12.5 percent to 13 percent (each up 0.5 percentage points).

Rates for employees 55 and below, above 65 to 70, and above 70 do not change in 2027. The increase for the 55-to-65 group is fully allocated to the employee’s Retirement Account, up to their Full Retirement Sum; after that it goes to the Ordinary Account. The practical job for payroll is to update the rates again at the 2027 turn of the year, exactly as you do for 2026.

The Ordinary Wage ceiling and the annual ceiling explained

Two ceilings cap how much wage attracts CPF. The Ordinary Wage (OW) ceiling is S$8,000 a month from 1 January 2026, confirmed by the CPF Board. Ordinary Wages are the regular monthly wages, such as salary, and CPF is only payable on the first S$8,000 of OW each month. Wages above S$8,000 a month do not attract CPF on the Ordinary Wage side.

The annual CPF salary ceiling is S$102,000. This is the most that combined Ordinary Wages and Additional Wages can attract CPF in a calendar year. Additional Wages (AW), such as the annual bonus, have their own ceiling: S$102,000 minus the total Ordinary Wages subject to CPF for the year, as set out by the CPF Board. In plain terms, the more OW an employee has earned during the year, the smaller the room left for CPF on the bonus.

The January bonus trap: when a bonus is paid early in the year, the Additional Wage ceiling has to be estimated from the current year’s Ordinary Wages, then recalculated once the year’s total is known. If the Ordinary Wages are underestimated, the ceiling comes out too high and CPF is paid on too much of the bonus, which you then claim back; if they are overestimated, the shortfall is paid with December’s contributions. And the employer CPF on the bonus is a real cost that surprises employers who budgeted only for the bonus itself.

CPF on bonuses and the Additional Wage ceiling

A bonus attracts CPF just as salary does, but it is an Additional Wage, so it has its own ceiling and its own timing. The CPF Board treats a payment as an Ordinary Wage only if it is paid for the employee’s work in that month and is payable by the 14th of the following month. Anything else is an Additional Wage, and the annual performance bonus is the standard example.

The Additional Wage ceiling is the most Additional Wages that can attract CPF in a calendar year. It applies per employee, per employer, per calendar year, and it works out as S$102,000 minus the total Ordinary Wages subject to CPF for the year. Because Ordinary Wages attract CPF only up to S$8,000 a month, an employee earning S$8,000 or more every month uses S$96,000 of that S$102,000, which leaves an Additional Wage ceiling of S$6,000. A S$20,000 bonus then attracts CPF on S$6,000 of it. An employee on S$5,000 a month has S$60,000 of Ordinary Wages, a ceiling of S$42,000, and a S$10,000 bonus attracts CPF in full.

Swipe sideways to see the full table →

Timing matters when a bonus is paid before December. The CPF Board’s rule is to estimate the ceiling from the current year’s Ordinary Wages whenever an Additional Wage is paid, then recalculate it once the employee’s total Ordinary Wages for the year are known, usually at the end of the year or in the last month of employment. Any shortfall is paid with December’s contributions, or with the contributions for the last month of employment. If you paid too much, apply to the CPF Board for a refund through its Refund and Adjustment of Contributions Paid form, selecting ‘Refund of contributions paid’, and return the employee’s share to the employee.

One practical catch: CPF EZPay does not work out the Additional Wage ceiling, because it does not track wages across the year. Your payroll software, or the CPF Board’s Additional Wage ceiling calculator, has to do it. When we run payroll services for a client, we track each employee’s Ordinary Wages for the year, so the CPF on a bonus is worked out against the right ceiling.

Who must pay CPF?

CPF contributions are payable for employees who are Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents, at the rates above, as stated by the CPF Board. Employers do not pay CPF for foreign employees who hold a work pass, such as an Employment Pass or Work Permit. For foreign staff, the employer’s statutory cost is the Skills Development Levy and, where applicable, the foreign worker levy, not CPF.

New Permanent Residents pay at graduated rates in their first two years of PR status before moving to full rates, unless the employer and employee jointly apply to pay at full rates earlier. If you are unsure whether a worker is even an employee for CPF purposes, our guide on employee versus contractor under MOM guidelines helps you classify correctly, because genuine contractors are not on payroll CPF.

CPF rates for new Permanent Residents

A new Singapore Permanent Resident does not start at the full rates. For the first two years of PR status, the employer and the employee contribute at lower graduated rates, set out in the CPF Board’s contribution rate tables; from the third year, the full rates in the table at the top of this guide apply. For monthly wages above S$750:

Swipe sideways to see the full table →

The PR year runs from the date of conversion, not the calendar year. The first year begins on the day the employee becomes a PR, the second year on the first day of the month after the first anniversary, and the third year on the first day of the month after the second anniversary. Ask new PR staff for their conversion date, because the rates change on those dates.

An employer and a first-year or second-year PR employee can also jointly apply to contribute at higher rates: both at the full rates, or the employer at the full rate while the employee stays on the graduated rate. The graduated rates do not change on 1 January 2027; only the full rates for employees above 55 to 65 rise then.

Employer obligations and deadlines

Employers must compute CPF, deduct the employee’s share from wages, and pay the combined amount to the CPF Board each month. The due date is the last day of the calendar month for which contributions are due. Enforcement action follows if contributions are not paid by the 14th of the following month, and late payment interest runs at 1.5 percent per month from the first day after the due date, as the CPF Board explains.

Contributions are submitted electronically, normally through CPF EZPay. The employee CPF figure that you deduct is the same figure that appears on the payslip, and the wages and CPF you report feed into the year-end Form IR8A for income reporting. Getting the monthly numbers right is what keeps the year-end filing clean.

Common employer CPF mistakes

These are the recurring errors we see when we take over a new client’s payroll. None are exotic; they come from small timing and classification slips that compound.

• Not updating rates at the turn of the year. Rates changed for 2026 and change again for senior workers in 2027. Payroll software set up with old rates quietly under-contributes until someone notices.
• Mishandling a birthday. When an employee crosses into a new age band, the new (lower) rate applies from the first day of the month after the month of the birthday. Applying it in the wrong month is a common slip.
• Forgetting the Additional Wage ceiling on bonuses. Employers budget the bonus but forget the employer CPF on top of it, then over-contribute or under-contribute because the AW ceiling was not estimated from the year’s Ordinary Wages and recalculated once the year’s total was known.
• Treating a foreigner or a contractor as CPF-liable, or the reverse. CPF is for Citizens and PRs only. Misclassifying a genuine employee as a contractor to avoid CPF is the more dangerous error.
• Paying late. Missing the 14th triggers interest and enforcement. For directors paying themselves, the salary-versus-dividend split also changes the CPF picture, which we cover in director salary versus dividends.

Many of these disappear when payroll is run by a specialist who updates rates centrally and reconciles the ceilings every month. Our payroll outsourcing service is built around exactly that. If you want to know what that costs, see our guide on payroll outsourcing cost in Singapore, or compare providers in best payroll services in Singapore.

How CPF flows into payslips and year-end filing

CPF is not a standalone task; it is one line in a chain. Each month, the employee CPF deduction must appear on the itemised payslip, which is itself a legal requirement under the Employment Act, covered in our guide to itemised payslips and Key Employment Terms. At year end, the wages and CPF you paid are reported on Form IR8A. When the monthly CPF is correct, the payslip and the IR8A both reconcile without rework. When it is wrong, the error surfaces at the worst time, during the year-end rush.

Key Takeaway: Employer CPF in 2026 is 17 percent for staff 55 and below (37 percent total) on wages up to the S$8,000 Ordinary Wage ceiling, tapering with age, and rising again for senior workers from 1 January 2027. Update your rates each January, track the S$8,000 and S$102,000 ceilings, pay only for Citizens and PRs, and meet the monthly deadline. This guide draws on the CPF Board’s employer pages: how much CPF contributions to pay, the 1 January 2027 contribution changes, the Ordinary Wage ceiling article, what payments attract CPF, and the contribution due-date article.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the employer CPF contribution rate in 2026?

For an employee aged 55 and below, the employer contributes 17 percent and the employee contributes 20 percent, a total of 37 percent of wages, on Ordinary Wages up to the S$8,000 monthly ceiling. The employer rate is lower for older employees: 16 percent (above 55 to 60), 12.5 percent (above 60 to 65), 9 percent (above 65 to 70), and 7.5 percent (above 70).

What is the CPF Ordinary Wage ceiling in 2026?

The Ordinary Wage ceiling is S$8,000 a month from 1 January 2026. CPF is payable only on the first S$8,000 of monthly Ordinary Wages. The annual CPF salary ceiling, which covers Ordinary Wages plus Additional Wages such as bonuses, is S$102,000 for the year.

How do CPF rates change in 2027?

From 1 January 2027, senior-worker rates rise. For employees above 55 to 60, the total rate goes from 34 percent to 35.5 percent (employer 16.5 percent, employee 19 percent). For employees above 60 to 65, the total rate goes from 25 percent to 26 percent (employer 13 percent, employee 13 percent). Other age bands are unchanged.

Do employers pay CPF for foreign employees?

No. CPF contributions are payable only for Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents. Employers do not pay CPF for foreign employees on a work pass. For foreign staff, the employer’s statutory costs are the Skills Development Levy and, where applicable, the foreign worker levy.

When must employers pay CPF each month?

CPF contributions are due on the last day of the calendar month for which they apply. Enforcement action is taken if contributions are not paid by the 14th of the following month, and late payment interest of 1.5 percent per month applies from the first day after the due date.

How much CPF does an employer pay for a senior worker?

In 2026, the employer pays 16 percent for an employee above 55 to 60, 12.5 percent for above 60 to 65, 9 percent for above 65 to 70, and 7.5 percent for above 70. From 1 January 2027, the employer share rises to 16.5 percent for above 55 to 60 and 13 percent for above 60 to 65.

How is CPF calculated on a bonus?

A bonus is an Additional Wage. CPF is payable on it at the employee’s normal rate, but only up to the Additional Wage ceiling: S$102,000 minus the Ordinary Wages subject to CPF for the year. An employee earning S$8,000 or more every month of the year has a ceiling of S$6,000, so only S$6,000 of the bonus attracts CPF. Estimate the ceiling when the bonus is paid and recalculate it once the year’s Ordinary Wages are known.

What CPF rates apply to new PRs?

Graduated rates apply for the first two years of PR status. For monthly wages above S$750 and an employee aged 55 and below, the employer pays 4% and the employee 5% in the first year, and 9% and 15% in the second year. Full rates apply from the third year, unless the employer and employee jointly apply to contribute at higher rates earlier.

Talk to Us

CPF rates change, ceilings shift, and a missed deadline costs interest and enforcement. Excellence Singapore runs payroll for Singapore SMEs so the rates are always current, the ceilings are tracked every month, and contributions are paid on time. Our payroll outsourcing service handles CPF, payslips, and IR8A end to end. Our payroll service starts from S$30 per employee a month. Year-end IR8A filing and IR21 tax clearance are charged separately, per employee, and a managed payroll service or add-on modules such as leave, claims and attendance tracking are quoted separately. If you would like us to take payroll off your desk, talk to us and we will map it to your headcount.