Itemised Payslips and Key Employment Terms: The Singapore Employer’s Guide (2026)
By Lucas Seah, Founder of Excellence Singapore Group | Last Updated: June 2026
Yes, itemised pay slips are a legal requirement in Singapore. Every employer must give each employee covered by the Employment Act an itemised pay slip together with their salary, or within three working days of payment. Employers must also issue Key Employment Terms (KETs) in writing within 14 days of the employee starting work.
This guide explains, in plain English, what must appear on a Singapore pay slip, the items a KET must contain, the deadlines, the penalties for getting it wrong, and it gives you a free, ready to use pay slip and KET template you can copy and print today.
Key Takeaways
- Itemised pay slips are mandatory for all employees covered by the Employment Act, given together with payment or within 3 working days.
- A compliant pay slip must show 12 specific items, including basic salary, allowances, every deduction (such as the employee CPF contribution), overtime, and net pay.
- Key Employment Terms must be issued in writing within 14 days of the start date to any employee on a contract of 14 days or more, and must cover 18 specified items.
- The Employment Act covers almost all employees, including managers and executives, so they need pay slips and KETs too.
- Failure to issue pay slips or KETs is a breach the Ministry of Manpower can act on, with an administrative penalty of up to S$400 for each repeated infringement.
Are pay slips a legal requirement in Singapore?
Yes. Since 1 April 2016, the Employment Act has required every employer to issue an itemised pay slip to each employee covered by the Act. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) states the pay slip must be given together with payment. If you cannot give it together with payment, you must provide it within three working days. When an employee is dismissed or resigns, the pay slip must be given together with the final salary.
The pay slip does not have to be a fancy document. MOM accepts a soft copy or a hard copy, and it can even be handwritten. What matters is that all the required information is there and that the employee receives it on time.
These rules apply to every employee under a contract of service. Under MOM’s guidance on who the Employment Act covers, that means almost all local and foreign employees, including managers and executives. The main groups left out are domestic workers, seafarers, and statutory board or government staff. A common mistake we see is an employer assuming a senior manager does not need a pay slip. They do.
The three core employer deadlines are summarised below.
What must be on an itemised pay slip?
MOM sets out 12 items that an itemised pay slip must include. Miss any of them and the pay slip is not compliant, even if the amount paid is correct. The 12 required items are:
- Full name of the employer.
- Full name of the employee.
- Date of payment (or dates, if the pay slip covers more than one payment).
- Basic salary. For hourly, daily, or piece-rated staff, also show the rate and the number of hours, days, or pieces worked.
- Start and end date of the salary period.
- Allowances paid for the salary period, both fixed and ad-hoc.
- Any other additional payment, such as a bonus, rest day pay, or public holiday pay.
- Deductions made, both fixed (for example the employee CPF contribution) and ad-hoc (for example no-pay leave).
- Overtime hours worked.
- Overtime pay.
- Start and end date of the overtime period, if it differs from the salary period.
- Net salary paid in total.
The deduction line is where most pay slips go wrong. The employee CPF contribution must be shown as its own deduction, not buried inside a single net figure. If you want to check how CPF affects the numbers, our guide to CPF contribution rates for employers sets out the current employer and employee shares, and our take-home salary calculator works out the net pay after CPF for any monthly wage.
What are Key Employment Terms (KETs)?
Key Employment Terms are the core terms of a job that an employer must put in writing. MOM requires 18 KET items, issued in writing within 14 days of the employee starting work. This applies to employees covered by the Employment Act who are engaged on a contract of service of 14 days or more, for contracts entered into on or after 1 April 2016. The 14 days refers to the length of the contract, not the number of days actually worked.
KETs apply to employees, not to self-employed contractors. If you are unsure which category a worker falls into, our guide on employee versus contractor status under MOM guidelines walks through the test. Getting this wrong means either issuing KETs you did not need to, or missing them for someone who was an employee all along.
The 18 KET items cover the employer and employee names, the job title and main duties, the start date, the contract duration for fixed-term roles, working arrangements, salary details, allowances, deductions, overtime terms, leave, medical benefits, the probation period, the notice period, and the place of work. The full list sits in the comparison table below.
Required pay slip items vs required KET items
Pay slips and KETs overlap, but they are not the same document and they serve different purposes. The table below lists both sets side by side so you can use it as a quick compliance reference.
| Itemised pay slip: 12 required items | Key Employment Terms (KETs): 18 required items |
|---|---|
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Pay slip vs KET vs employment contract: what is the difference?
These three documents are often confused, which leads SMEs to think they have covered an obligation when they have not.
The employment contract (the contract of service) is the full agreement between you and the employee. It can be long and can include anything the two parties agree to. The KET is the minimum set of terms MOM requires you to put in writing. Many small employers simply make sure their contract contains all 18 KET items, which satisfies both at once. The pay slip is a record of a single payment, issued every time you pay salary. The contract and KET describe the deal; the pay slip records what was actually paid.
In short, the KET and contract are issued once at the start (and updated if terms change), while the pay slip is issued with every pay run. You need both sides covered to be compliant.
Your pay slip and KET compliance checklist
This is the short checklist we run through with new payroll clients. It catches the errors that most often surface in an audit or a salary dispute.
- Every employee, including managers and executives, receives an itemised pay slip with each pay run.
- The employee CPF contribution is shown as a separate deduction line, not netted off silently.
- The final pay slip is issued together with the last salary when someone leaves.
- KETs are issued in writing within 14 days of the start date, not weeks later.
- The contract or KET contains all 18 items, including probation and notice period.
- Pay slip and employment records are kept on file for at least two years.
- Year-end reporting lines up with the pay slips, so the figures on each employee’s Form IR8A match what the pay slips show.
One pattern worth flagging from experience: owner-directors who pay themselves a salary often skip their own pay slip and KET. If you draw a salary through the company, the same rules apply to you. Our guide on director salary versus dividends explains why the salary route carries CPF and documentation that a dividend does not.
Free pay slip and KET template (no sign up)
Use the two templates below. They list every required item, so filling them in keeps you compliant. There is no email gate and no form to fill in first: copy the tables straight from this page, or print the page directly, then add your company details and save your copy. Both the pay slip and the KET layouts are ready to use as they are.
Template 1: Itemised pay slip (copy and fill in)
| ITEMISED PAY SLIP | |
|---|---|
| Name of employer | |
| Name of employee | |
| Date of payment | |
| Salary period (start to end) | |
| Mode of payment | |
| Earnings | |
| Basic salary (rate and hours, days, or pieces if relevant) | S$ |
| Allowances (fixed and ad-hoc) | S$ |
| Overtime hours worked | |
| Overtime pay (and overtime period if different) | S$ |
| Other additional payments (bonus, rest day pay, public holiday pay) | S$ |
| Gross salary | S$ |
| Deductions | |
| Employee CPF contribution | S$ |
| Other deductions (fixed and ad-hoc) | S$ |
| Total deductions | S$ |
| Net salary paid | S$ |
| Give this pay slip together with payment, or within 3 working days. Keep a copy for at least 2 years. | |
Template 2: Key Employment Terms (copy and fill in)
| KEY EMPLOYMENT TERMS (KETs) | |
|---|---|
| 1. Full name of employer | |
| 2. Full name of employee | |
| 3. Job title, main duties, and responsibilities | |
| 4. Start date of employment | |
| 5. Duration of employment (fixed-term only) | |
| 6. Working arrangements (daily hours, days per week, rest day) | |
| 7. Salary period | |
| 8. Basic salary (and salary rate where relevant) | |
| 9. Fixed allowances | |
| 10. Fixed deductions | |
| 11. Overtime payment period (if different) | |
| 12. Overtime rate of pay | |
| 13. Other salary-related components (bonuses, incentives) | |
| 14. Types of leave (annual, sick, hospitalisation, maternity, childcare) | |
| 15. Other medical benefits (insurance, medical, dental) | |
| 16. Probation period | |
| 17. Notice period | |
| 18. Place of work | |
| Issue in writing within 14 days of the start date. Keep a copy on file. | |
If keeping all of this current sounds like one more thing to track, that is exactly what a payroll service does. Our payroll outsourcing team produces compliant itemised pay slips and KETs for every employee, every cycle, so you never have to think about the 12 and 18 again.
What are the penalties for not issuing pay slips or KETs?
The Ministry of Manpower treats failure to issue itemised pay slips or KETs as a breach it can act on. In a 2024 parliamentary reply, MOM confirmed that it engages errant employers first and issues caution letters, and can impose an administrative penalty of up to S$400 for each repeated infringement. The financial downside is modest per slip, but it compounds quickly across a workforce, and a pattern of missing pay slips is exactly what surfaces in a salary dispute or an inspection.
Employers must also keep itemised pay slip and employment records: the latest two years for current employees, and for ex-employees, the last two years kept for one year after they leave. Beyond the penalty, accurate pay slips are your first line of defence if an employee ever challenges what they were paid.
For many SMEs, the cost of getting this consistently right in-house is higher than the penalty. If you are weighing the options, see what payroll outsourcing costs in Singapore, compare the in-house versus outsourced trade-off, or read how to pick a provider in our guide to the best payroll services in Singapore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are payslips a legal requirement in Singapore?
Yes. Since 1 April 2016, every employer must give itemised pay slips to all employees covered by the Employment Act. The pay slip must be given together with the salary, or within 3 working days of payment. On termination, it must be given with the final salary. It can be soft copy, hard copy, or handwritten.
What must be included in an itemised payslip?
An itemised pay slip must show 12 items: employer name, employee name, date of payment, basic salary, salary period, allowances, any additional payments, deductions (including the employee CPF contribution), overtime hours, overtime pay, the overtime period if different, and the net salary paid.
What are Key Employment Terms (KETs)?
Key Employment Terms are the core terms of a job that an employer must put in writing, such as job title, working hours, salary, allowances, deductions, leave, medical benefits, probation, and notice period. There are 18 KET items in total under the Employment Act.
When must I give an employee their KETs?
You must give Key Employment Terms in writing within 14 days of the employee starting work. This applies to employees covered by the Employment Act who are engaged on a contract of service of 14 days or more, for contracts entered into on or after 1 April 2016.
Is there a free MOM-compliant payslip template?
Yes. This guide includes a free pay slip template and a KET template that list every required item, with no email sign up. You can copy them, fill in your company details, and print or save them. They are also available as a standalone file you can open and print.
What is the penalty for not issuing payslips?
The Ministry of Manpower treats failure to issue itemised pay slips or KETs as a breach it can act on. MOM typically engages the employer first and issues a caution letter, and can impose an administrative penalty of up to S$400 for each repeated infringement. Employers must also keep pay slip and employment records for at least 2 years.
Talk to Us
Pay slips and KETs are small documents that carry real exposure when they slip. Excellence Singapore runs payroll for SMEs end to end, issuing compliant itemised pay slips and Key Employment Terms for every employee, handling CPF and year-end reporting, and keeping the records MOM expects. If you would rather not track the 12 and the 18 yourself, talk to us about payroll outsourcing and we will take it off your desk.
