Funding & Claims - For Employers

SSG Funding

Companies sponsoring their employees for training to enhance their employees’ capabilities and productivity, the following are some funding available:

1) Course Fee Funding

Course Fee Funding is available for employers who sponsor their employees for training.

	Course level	Courses starting on or after 1 Jan 2022
Certifiable courses approved by SSG
Courses conducted by external training providers
SCs and PRs	PMET	Up to 50% of course fees
SCs and PRs	Non-PMET	Up to 50% of course fees
SCs aged ≥ 40 years old (SkillsFuture Mid-career Enhanced Subsidy)	PMET and non-PMET	Up to 70% of course fees
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) (Enhanced Training Support for SMEs)	PMET and non-PMET	Up to 70% of course fees
Non-certifiable courses approved by SSG
All SCs and PRs	PMET and non-PMET	$2 per hour

2) Absentee Payroll Funding
Absentee Payroll Funding is available for employers who sponsor their employees for training

		Courses starting on or after 1 Jan 2022
	Course Level	Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents	Singapore Citizens aged 35 and above (or Persons with Special Needs aged 13 and above), earning a monthly salary ≤$2,300 (Workfare Skills Support)
For training conducted outside working hours, AP funding is given to the employers to defray the overtime pay that was paid to their employees. Hence to qualify for AP funding, employers must have in place a Human Resource (HR) policy which provides for the payment of overtime pay to employees for these training hours and pay their employees overtime pay for these hours, in accordance with the HR policy.
Courses offered by SSG-appointed CET Centres and SSG supported certifiable courses	PMET	$4.50 per hour, capped at $100,000 per enterprise per calendar year	95% of hourly basic salary
	Non-PMET		95% of hourly basic salary

SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC)

Overview

The SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC) encourages employers to invest in enterprise transformation and capabilities of their employees. Eligible employers will receive a one-off S$10,000 credit to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses on qualifying costs for supportable initiatives, over and above the support levels of existing schemes.

What does the SFEC support?

Enterprise Transformation Schemes by various agencies hosted on the Business Grant Portal (BGP)
Workforce Transformation Training courses aligned to the various Industry Skills Frameworks by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Job redesign initiatives, Career Conversion Programmes, etc by Workforce Singapore (WSG)

The list of SFEC-supportable programmes can be found below:

Programmes	Agency
Workforce Transformation Programmes
Skills Framework-aligned courses (in support of the Industry Transformation Maps)	SkillsFuture Singapore
2. Career Conversion Programme (course fee expenses only) 3. Support for Job Redesign consultancy under Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG-JR) 4. Job Redesign initiatives [e.g. i4.0 Human Capital Initiative for Manufacturing Sector, Service Industry Transformation Programme for the Services sector] 5. Design Thinking Business Transformation Programme	Workforce Singapore
6. Training Industry Professionals in Tourism (TIP-iT)	Singapore Tourism Board

To encourage employers to embark on both enterprise and workforce transformation programmes in tandem, S$3,000 of the credit can be used for workforce transformation programmes only. Hence, employers can only use up to S$7,000 of the credit for enterprise transformation. There is no cap on the amount that can be used for workforce transformation.

Note:

a. A separate application for SFEC is not necessary. ESG will notify all newly eligible employers for SFEC via email sent to their registered CorpPass Administrators.

b. Employers will have to meet the eligibility criteria of the individual SFEC-supportable programmes before they can draw down the credit. The SFEC credit will be automatically deducted for SFEC-supportable schemes or training courses.

c. Employers newly qualified in 2021¹ may use their SFEC for supportable programmes applied from 1 April 2022. Employers who were previously qualified² can continue to use their SFEC for supportable programmes submitted on or after 1 April 2020.

¹Qualifying period: 1 Jan 2021 – 31 Dec 2021

²Previous qualifying periods were:

a. 1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020
b. 1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020
c. 1 October 2019 – 30 September 2020
d. 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020

d. Employers who have sent foreign employees (excluding Long-Term Visit Pass holders) for training will have to submit the SFEC claims after course completion via the SkillsFuture Singapores's SFEC microsite. If the employees are Singaporean/Permanent Resident employees (including Long-Term Visit Pass holders), please check with the Training Providers on whether there is a need to submit the SFEC claims via the microsite.

e. Final claims for SFEC-supportable programmes must be submitted to the respective agencies by 30 June 2024. Claims can only be submitted for training which has been completed.

Eligibility

Eligible employers have been qualified for SFEC over 5 qualifying periods. Employers that have fulfilled the eligibility criteria for SFEC will be informed by Enterprise Singapore.

Please refer to the table below for the qualifying periods and the respective eligibility criteria.

	Qualifying Periods	Eligibility Criteria
SFEC (Budget 2020)	1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020 1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020 1 October 2019 – 30 September 2020 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020	Employers must meet the following conditions over any of the qualifying periods: Have contributed at least S$750 Skills Development Levy (SDL) over a qualifying period; and Have employed at least three Singapore Citizens (SCs) or Permanent Residents (PRs) every month over the same qualifying period; and Have not been qualified at any of the earlier periods.
SFEC Expansion (Budget 2022)	1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021	Employers must meet the following conditions over the qualifying period: Have employed at least three Singapore Citizens (SCs) or Permanent Residents (PRs) every month over the qualifying period; and Have not been previously qualified for SFEC; and Are not in default of their SDL contributions during the qualifying period and do not have an inactive ACRA status during the qualification process.

Qualifying Periods

Eligibility Criteria

SFEC (Budget 2020)

1 April 2019 – 31 March 2020
1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020
1 October 2019 – 30 September 2020
1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020

Employers must meet the following conditions over any of the qualifying periods:

Have contributed at least S$750 Skills Development Levy (SDL) over a qualifying period; and
Have employed at least three Singapore Citizens (SCs) or Permanent Residents (PRs) every month over the same qualifying period; and
Have not been qualified at any of the earlier periods.

SFEC Expansion (Budget 2022)

1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021

Employers must meet the following conditions over the qualifying period:

Have employed at least three Singapore Citizens (SCs) or Permanent Residents (PRs) every month over the qualifying period; and
Have not been previously qualified for SFEC; and
Are not in default of their SDL contributions during the qualifying period and do not have an inactive ACRA status during the qualification process.

FAQ & Claim Guide

Click here for a simple 2-step guide to check on your SFEC eligibility via the Business Grant Portal.

Click here for SFEC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Click here for SFEC User Claim Guide

For more enterprise programmes and initiatives, visit Enterprise Portal for Jobs & Skills

Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS)

	Amount of Tax Deductions and/ or Allowances Granted Before YA 2024	Amount of Tax Deductions and/ or Allowances Granted From YA 2024 to YA 2028
Training	100% tax deduction on training expenditure (Sections 14 and 15)	400% tax deduction on first $400,000 of qualifying training expenditure plus 100% tax deduction on balance of qualifying training expenditure in excess of $400,000 and all other training expenditure

Amount of Tax Deductions and/ or Allowances Granted Before YA 2024

Amount of Tax Deductions and/ or Allowances Granted From YA 2024 to YA 2028

Training

100% tax deduction on training expenditure (Sections 14 and 15)

400% tax deduction on first $400,000 of qualifying training expenditure plus
100% tax deduction on balance of qualifying training expenditure in excess of $400,000 and all other training expenditure

To further reinforce existing measures to encourage employers to invest in enterprise training and capabilities of their employees, an additional 300% tax deduction is granted on the first $400,000 of qualifying training expenditure incurred in a basis period.

Together with the 100% base deduction under Section 14 of the ITA, a total of 400% tax deduction is granted on the first $400,000 of qualifying training expenditure incurred for each YA. All other training expenditure, including qualifying training expenditure exceeding $400,000, incurred during the basis period continues to enjoy 100% base deduction, subject to the general tax deduction rules under Sections 14 and 15.

The enhanced tax deduction is applicable to qualifying training expenditure incurred on courses that are eligible for SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) funding and aligned with the Skills Framework⁴.

For the purpose of the EIS, qualifying training expenditure refers to course fees paid by employers (whether directly or in the form of reimbursement) to a SSG-funded course provider, including certification fees and assessment fees. The enhanced tax deduction is computed based on the amount of qualifying training expenditure incurred by a business net of any Government grant or subsidy received by the business in respect of the course.

⁴The list of eligible courses is available on go.gov.sg/eis-training.

Click here for more information on the Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS).