Singapore Property Cooling Measures - Do you need a Mortgage Broker?

I was flipping through The Edge Singapore last weekend and chanced upon an article on mortgage brokers which I find rather interesting. The multiple property cooling measures imposed by the Singapore Government has made it very complex for the layman to understand and apply the rules in his personal circumstances and gave rise to a need for mortgage brokers to come in and offer advice.

The Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) loan framework was introduced in June last year and it came on top of seven earlier property cooling measures that included hikes in stamp duty, increased cash payment and reduced borrowing limit for those buying their second, third or subsequent properties. The TDSR has effectively changed the game as most property investors know it.
 
Some examples cited are:
 
A buyer in his 30s who is looking for a $2 million private condo and taking a 30-year loan at a loan-to-value ratio of $1.6 million. The monthly mortgage payments will be around $6,000. As the TDSR limit is 60% of gross monthly income, the homebuyer has to be earning a monthly salary of $10,000, assuming he has no other outstanding financial obligations, such as credit card debt or car loans. If, for example, he homebuyer is still financing a car at $3,000 a month, his gross monthly salary has to be at least $15,000 to qualify for the $6,000 monthly mortgage payment under TDSR.
 
If it is an investment property, and there is no other source of income except the rent, the property will need to generate a monthly rent of $14,500 for the bank to consider it "self-sustaining". This is because rental income is considered variable income and banks have to take a 30% haircut under TDSR regulation. Alternatively, the property investor would have to show that he has liquid assets in the form of cash or stocks of $1.6 million or pledge $480,000 to the bank for 4 years.
 
Based on the mortgage servicing ratio (MSR) limit of 30%, to afford a $900,000 HDB resale flat, a couple would need a combined household income of $15,000 to $18,000 a month. At this income level, the couple would be able to buy a $2 million private property. 
 
So, for those looking to buy properties, you may want to familiarise yourselves with the new rules and regulations before taking the plunge.
 
Summary of the Singapore Property Cooling Measures   
 
I have done a brief search online to present below the overview of the current regulations regarding residential property transactions in Singapore, result of the 8 rounds of cooling measures made by the authorities since 2009.
 
Sources:
http://www.ezproperty.sg/singapore-property-cooling-measures
http://www.srx.com.sg/cooling-measures
http://sbr.com.sg/residential-property/news/heres-quick-guide-already-infamous-property-cooling-measures
http://www.property-singapore.sg/singapore-property-measures.html
 

Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework - 28 June 2013 (revised 10 February 2014)
 

The Total Debt Servicing Ratio framework is the latest rule enforced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It is a set of rules that restrict financial institutions from lending to an individual if his outstanding debt repayments (any debt, not only linked to property) exceed 60% of his gross income (including the potential new loan). The interest rate used for calculation of the new loan is 3.5% or the actual interest rate, whichever is higher. Guarantors must not exceed the TDSR threshold as well.
 
Exemption
 
A borrower who bought a residential property before TDSR rules were introduced (i.e.29 June 2013) will be exempted from TDSR threshold as long as he occupies the residential property that is being refinanced. 
 

Loan Tenure limit - 6 Oct 2012 (revised 10 February 2014)

 

Tenures of loans granted by financial institutions regulated by the MAS are limited to 35 years.

In case of co-borrowers, the income-weighted average age will be used, i.e. assuming Mr Tan (40) who earns $6,000 monthly and Mrs Tan (30) who earns $4,000 monthly apply for a loan, their income-weighted average age will be 36.
 
A concession will apply with regard to loan tenures, for residential properties purchased before the respective implementation dates for the loan tenure limits. In such cases, borrowers whose loan tenures for their owner-occupied residential properties exceed the current regulatory limits will be allowed to maintain the remaining tenures of their loans at the point of refinancing.

Loan-To-Value (LTV) limits - 12 January 2013
 

The LTV limit is the maximum percentage of the purchase price (price agreed upon between buyer and seller) or valuation price (given by the bank), whichever is lower, that can be borrowed from the bank.

• 80% if you do not have any other outstanding loan. If you are a foreigner without PR status, some banks might cap at 70% or even 60%;
• 50% if you have one outstanding loan;
• 40% if you have two or more outstanding loans or if you are buying under a company.

If your loan tenure is more than 30 years or the loan period would go beyond the retirement age of 65, these limits are lowered to:

• 60% if you do not have any other outstanding loan;
• 30% if you have one outstanding loan;
• 20% if you have two or more outstanding loans or if you are buying under a company.

The borrower must be the same person as the one purchasing the property.

Minimum Cash Down Payment
 

The remaining amount (from the LTV above) that cannot be borrowed from the bank has to be paid in cash or can come from a CPF ordinary account (mandatory saving account for Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents). However, there is a minimum percentage of the purchase price or valuation price, whichever is lower, that has to be paid in cash:

• 5% cash for a LTV of 80%;
• 10% cash for a LTV of 60%;
• 25% cash in all other cases.

 

Additional Buyer Stamp Duty (ABSD) - 12 January 2013

 

Anybody buying a residential property in Singapore is required to pay stamp duties equivalent to 3% of the purchase price or valuation price, whichever is higher. To cool the market, the government introduced an additional stamp duty (ABSD) which varies according to your immigration status:

• If you are a Singapore citizen, the ABSD is 0%/7%/10% if you are buying your first/second/third or subsequent property respectively.
• If you are a Singapore Permanent Resident, the ABSD is 5%/10% if you are buying your first/second or subsequent property respectively.
• If you are a foreigner (living in Singapore or not) or buying under a company, the ABSD is 15% if you are buying your first or subsequent property.

Purchases by more than one individual will be subject to the highest applicable ABSD (some exemptions apply - see below).


Seller Stamp Duty (SSD)
 

To reign in speculation, sellers are required to pay a Seller Stamp Duty, which is a percentage of the selling price or valuation price, whichever is higher.

If you purchased your property between 30 August 2010 and 13 January 2011, the SSD rate is about 1%.

If you purchased your property on or after 14 January 2011, the SSD rates are the following:

• If you sell less than 1 year after purchase: 16%;
• If you sell between 1 year and 2 years after purchase: 12%;
• If you sell between 2 and 3 years after purchase: 8%;
• If you sell between 3 and 4 years after purchase: 4%.

 

Restrictions regarding Public Housing - 11 January 2013

 

Public Housing subsidized by the government (HDB flats) have additional restrictions:

• The Mortgage Servicing Ratio (MSR), i.e. percentage of income that can pay for the loan, is capped at:
• 30% if the loan is granted by a private institution such as a bank
• 35% if the loan is granted by the HDB
• The MSR will not apply to the refinancing of loans for HDB flats and Executive Condominiums (ECs) that are owner-occupied and were purchased before their respective MSR implementation dates.
• Permanent Residents are not allowed to rent out their entire unit (which requires approval from the HDB);
• Permanent Residents who own a HDB flat must sell their flat within 6 months of purchasing a private residential property in Singapore.

 

Exemptions and Beliefs

 

LTV

 

If you own a residential property in Singapore, you are not subject to these limits when you obtain a housing loan for the purchase of a property which is an Executive Condominium (EC) purchased directly from a property developer or a HDB flat (which requires you to dispose of your previous flat)

ABSD

• Nationals from the USA, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are exempted from paying the ABSD for foreigners due to Free Trade Agreements (FTA). The ABSD rule applying to them is the same than Singapore citizens.
• Married couples with at least 1 Singapore citizen will be exempted from paying the ABSD if:
• None of them already owns a property;
• They agree to dispose of their existing property within 6 months of the purchase of their new property (or the TOP if the new property is uncompleted).

For more details on the 8 rounds of property cooling measures, please refer to the MAS official press releases:

• Round 1 (14 September 2009)
• Round 2 (20 February 2010)
• Round 3 (30 August 2010)
• Round 4 (14 January 2011)
• Round 5 (7 December 2011)
• Round 6 (5 October 2012)
• Round 7 (11 January 2013)
• Round 8 (28 June 2013)
• Exemption from TDSR Threshold (10 February 2014)

SGX Stock Screener

 
For those of you who prefer to be more hands-on in terms of your investment strategy, you will be pleased to know that SGX has revamped its stock screener to help you identify the stocks that best fit your strategy.

Over there, you get to modify your search criteria in broad categories like Market Data, Financials, Valuation and Industry and has the ability to zoom into details like Total Market Capitalization, Net Profit Margin, Debt/Equity ratio, P/E ratio, P/BV, Dividend Yield, Consensus recommendation etc. The search engine is powered by S&P Capital IQ.

Please refer to the website for more details.

 

UOB Structured Deposits Promotion

Looks like structured deposits are making a comeback at the banks.

From now till 8 Nov 2014, with a minimum of just S$5,000, you can invest in UOB Structured Deposit 2014 - Series (3). This 5-year and 11-month investment pays you an effective interest rate of 1.7774% p.a. or a total of 10.5% total guaranteed minimum interests (Being Total

Guaranteed Fixed Interest of 9.5% plus minimum Maturity Variable Interest of 1.0%) over the entire period. It is 100% principal guaranteed when held to maturity.

The Maturity Variable Interest up to 4% is linked to 5 Singapore based Company Shares.

Shares in Underlying Basket

• DBS Group Holdings Limited (“DBS”)
• Global Logistic Properties Limited ("GLP")
• Keppel Corporation Limited (“KEP”)
• Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation ("OCBC")
• Singapore Telecommunications Limited ("ST")

* Also available in USD. Refer to UOB Structured Deposit 2014 - Series (5).

Please refer to the website for more details.

How to Achieve Personal Income Tax Savings

As we are approaching year end, you may want to do some income tax planning, so that you can save some taxes come next year's filing season.

You may claim expenses, donations and tax reliefs as deductions to reduce your tax liabilities for the Year of Assessment ("YA") 2015. In Singapore, your total income less deductions will be subject to tax at progressive rates ranging from 0% to 20%.

Employment Expenses

If you are an employee, employment expenses incurred in earning your employment income, for example, travelling expenses incurred on public transport, entertainment expenses incurred in entertaining clients, subscriptions paid to professional bodies or society in year 2014.

Donations
To encourage greater charitable giving in Singapore as the economy recovered, the Minister for Finance announced in Budget 2011 that  tax deduction of 2.5 times will be extended for another 5 years to donations made from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2015. Donations to name Institutions of a Public Character (IPC), IPC facilities, events or programmes are eligible. However if the donations or gifts are for a "foreign charitable purpose", they are not tax deductible even though they are made to an approved Institution of a Public Character (IPC). For example, donations made to some overseas relief funds managed by an approved IPC are not tax deductible.
 

Course fees relief

You can claim actual course fees incurred up to a maximum of $5,500 in year 2014 and should only include registration or enrolment fees, examination fees, tuition fees and aptitude test fees (for computer courses). The course or seminar / conference should be related to your current employment, trade, business, profession or vocation. If you started a new employment, trade, business, profession or vocation related to any course, seminar / conference that you have completed in the prior 2 years, you are able to claim this relief as well.

CPF cash top-up relief

The relief is automatically given to you if your employer has made cash top-ups to your own Special Accounts or Retirement Accounts in year 2014. Additional relief will be automatically given to you for cash top-ups made by you to your family member's (Parents or Parents-in-law, Grandparents or Grandparents-in-law, Spouse, Siblings) Special Account or Retirement Account. To qualify for the tax relief, your spouse and siblings must not have an annual income exceeding $4,000 in the year preceding the year of top-up.

CPF relief : For employees only

You may claim relief on compulsory employee CPF contributions (not exceeding the Ordinary Wage Ceiling and Additional Wage Ceiling) and voluntary contributions to your Medisave Account in the year 2014.
 

Earned income relief

IRAS will automatically grant this relief when processing your tax return. You do not need to claim this.

Handicapped brother / sister relief

You can claim this relief if you have supported your physically or mentally handicapped siblings or siblings-in-law who lived in Singapore. To qualify for the relief, your sibling or sibling-in-law must have lived with you in the same household or you must have incurred $2,000 or more in supporting him in the year 2014. You cannot claim this relief if someone else has claimed other reliefs on the same sibling. For YA 2014 and before, $3,500 for each handicapped sibling or sibling-in-law. From YA 2015 onwards, this will be increased to $5,500. 

Life insurance relief

Life insurance relief is given on annual insurance premiums paid in year 2014 on the life assurance policies bought on your life or the life of your wife. You may claim if your total compulsory employee CPF contribution or self-employed Medisave/Voluntary CPF contribution or both is less than $5,000. If you are a married female, you can only claim on your own life assurance policies. You can claim the lower of the difference between $5,000 and your CPF contribution or up to 7% of the insured value of your own/your wife's life or the amount of insurance premiums paid, whichever is lower.

NSman (self/parent) relief

NSman self relief 

$3,000 for those who performed NS activities in the year 2014 or $1,500 for those who did not. If you and your son are both NSmen, you will eligible for either the NSman self relief or the NSman parent relief, whichever is higher.

NSman wife relief - $750

NSman parent relief - $750 is the maximum relief regardless of the number of children who are NSmen.

Parent / Handicapped Parent Relief (for maintenance of parents, grandparents & great-grandparents including in-laws)

The dependent must be living in Singapore in the year 2014, either in your household or if in a separate household, you must incur $2,000 or more supporting him/her. The dependent is 55 years of age or above in the year 2014 and does not have an annual income exceeding $4,000 in the year 2014. If not, he/she must be physically or mentally disabled.

If you have claimed Parent Relief on both your parents, you will not be able to claim the relief on your parents-in-law. You can still claim the full amount of this relief even if the dependent passed away in the year 2014.

If you are a working mother who is married, divorced or widowed, you can claim Parent / Handicapped Parent Relief and Grandparent Caregiver Relief on the same dependent, provided that you meet the qualifying conditions.

From YA 2015, if you have supported the same parent or handicapped parent with other people, all of you can share this relief based on an agreed apportionment. If at least one of you stays with the dependent, the amount of the parent relief to be shared is $9,000 or $14,000 respectively. The claimants must agree on the basis of apportionment. Otherwise, the Comptroller of Income Tax would apportion the relief equally among all claimants.

Type of relief                  Staying with               Not staying with

                                           dependent                    dependent

Parent relief                       $9,000 per                      $5,500 per

                                           dependent                      dependent

Handicapped parent          $14,000 per                    $10,000 per

relief                                   dependent                      dependent

 

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS)

You are entitled to SRS tax relief in the Year of Assessment following the year of contribution provided you are a tax resident. The maximum SRS contribution for a Singaporean/Singapore permanent resident and foreigner are $12,750 and $29,750 respectively. This will be allowed automatically based on information provided by the SRS operator.

SRS is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save for retirement, over and above their CPF savings. The SRS offers attractive tax benefits. Contributions to SRS are eligible for tax relief. Investment returns will also be tax-free before withdrawal and only 50% of the withdrawals from SRS are taxable at retirement.

You can open an SRS account at the participating branches of any of the three SRS operators:

1. DBS Group Holdings Ltd

2. Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Ltd

3. United Overseas Bank (UOB) Ltd

So, to claim for tax relief next year, do make the contributions before the end of this year to qualify. The banks are offering perks to encourage tax payers to open SRS accounts with them by offering cash and vouchers. You can find the latest SRS promotions here.

Additional Reliefs/Rebates available to married/divorced/widowed taxpayers

For both Male and Female Taxpayers

Qualifying / handicapped child relief (QCR/HCR)

You can claim relief if you are maintaining an unmarried child who is a legitimate child/step-child/legally adopted child who is below 16 years old or studying full-time at any university, college or other educational institution and does not earn an annual income exceeding $4,000 in the year 2014. Scholarships, bursaries and similar allowances are not considered your child's income OR is mentally or physically handicapped.

From YA 2010 to YA 2014		From YA 2015
QCR	HCR	QCR	HCR
$4,000 per child	$5,500 per child	$4,000 per child	$7,500 per child
QCR/HCR + WMCR is capped at $50,000 per child#		QCR/HCR + WMCR is capped at $50,000 per child#

^#QCR / HCR, regardless of whether it is claimed by the father or mother, will be allowed first.  WMCR will be limited to the remaining balance.   
 

Spouse/handicapped spouse relief

You may claim this relief if your spouse was living with you or supported by you AND does not have an annual income exceeding $4,000 in the year 2014 OR is mentally or physically handicapped. If you are legally separated from your spouse and are making maintenance payments under a Court Order or Deed of Separation, you may also claim this relief.

Parenthood tax rebate

You may claim Parenthood Tax Rebate if you are a married, divorced or widowed Singapore tax resident in the relevant year* and the qualifying child is a legitimate child, illegitimate child or an adopted child.

* This refers to the year of birth (for a legitimate child), year of marriage (for an illegitimate child) or year of adoption (for an adopted child) where applicable.

You may claim the relief in Year of Assessment immediately following the relevant year defined above. Any unutilised amount will be automatically carried forward and used to offset your income tax payable. Hence, it is not necessary to submit a fresh claim for subsequent years.

From YA 2009 onwards, the following parenthood tax rebate may be claimed for each qualifying child.

Child order                       PTR                                          PTR

                               (YA2008 and before)             (From YA 2009 onwards)

1st                                       $0                                             $5,000

2nd                                 $10,000                                       $10,000

3rd                                  $20,000                                       $20,000

4th                                  $20,000                                       $20,000

5th and beyond                   $0                                     $20,000 per child

This relief may be shared with your spouse based on the basis of apportionment agreed by both of you.

For Female Taxpayers only

Foreign maid levy relief

You can claim this relief if you or your spouse have employed a foreign domestic worker and you are married and lived with your husband or married and your husband is not a tax resident in Singapore or separated from your husband, divorced or widowed and had children who lived with you and on whom you could claim child reliefs.

You can claim twice the total foreign domestic worker levy paid in the previous year, on one foreign domestic worker This is regardless of whether you or your husband has paid the levy.

Grandparent caregiver relief

You can claim this relief if you are a working mother who is married, divorced or widowed. Your parent, grandparent, parent-in-law or grandparent-in-law (including that of ex-spouse) is living in Singapore in the year 2014; looking after any of your children who is a citizen of Singapore and is 12 years old or younger in the year; and not working or carrying on any trade, business, profession, vocation in the year. No one else has claimed GCR on the same caregiver. The caregiver may be the subject of relief claims, other than GCR (e.g. Parent Relief, Spouse Relief).
 

Working mother's child relief

You can claim WMCR in the Year of Assessment 2015 if you meet all the following conditions in the year 2014. You are a working mother who is married, divorced or widowed and have earned income. (Earned income = Taxable earned income from employment, pension, trade, business, profession or vocation less allowable expenses) You have a child who is Singapore citizen as at 31 Dec 2013* and have satisfied all conditions under Qualifying Child Relief (QCR) or Handicapped Child Relief (HCR). You can claim WMCR on the same child even if you and / or your husband / ex-husband has already claimed Qualifying Child Relief (QCR) or Handicapped Child Relief (HCR).

After you have made a claim in your tax return, IRAS will automatically compute the amount of WMCR that you can claim, based on your eligibility, when IRAS process your tax return. The amount of WMCR that you can claim for each child is based on the child order and the corresponding percentage of your earned income.

Child order	WMCR Amount
1st	15% of mother's earned income
2nd	20% of mother's earned income
3rd	25% of mother's earned income
4th	25% of mother's earned income
5th and beyond	25% of mother's earned income
Maximum claim allowable*	QCR/ HCR + WMCR is capped at $50,000 per child Cumulative WMCR percentages are capped at 100% of mother's earned income

* QCR/ HCR, regardless of whether it is claimed by the father or mother, will be allowed first and WMCR will be limited to the remaining balance.

Please refer to IRAS website for more details and here for the tax calculator which is very helpful as it provides pointers at each relevant input cell for you to compute your tax payable.

Final Step
Once you use the tax calculator to estimate your chargeable income and tax payable, you can then try to see if it is possible for you to achieve more tax savings by moving down to the next lower tier of chargeable income by, say contributing to your SRS account / making more donations to your favourite charity or simply by allowing the higher income earners in the family to claim for parent relief, for example.

As an illustrative example, we can look at YA 2014 tiered tax rates. If you are a tax resident in Singapore, the rates of tax chargeable are as follows:

 

	Chargeable Income	Rate	Gross Tax Payable
	$	(%)	$
On the first	20,000	0	0
On the next	10,000	2.0	200
On the first	30,000		200
On the next	10,000	3.5	350
On the first	40,000		550
On the next	40,000	7.0	2,800
On the first	80,000		3,350
On the next	40,000	11.5	4,600
On the first	120,000		7,950
On the next	40,000	15	6,000
On the first	160,000		13,950
On the next	40,000	17	6,800
On the first	200,000		20,750
On the next	120,000	18	21,600
On the first	320,000		42,350
Above	320,000	20

 

For a tax resident with chargeable income of $95,000 (assuming no parenthood tax rebate), is able to reduce his chargeable income to $80,000 by contributing $12,750 (max for Singapore tax residents) and donating $900 to approved charities and at the same time, achieve tax savings of $1,725 (11.5%*$15,000).

 

Of course, you can try out different possibilities unique to your personal circumstances. Please do let us know if you have anything to contribute regarding this topic. Hope you find this post useful!





DBS / OCBC Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) Promotion

As the year draws to a close, taxpayers like us have to look at options to minimise tax obligations by making use of tax reliefs. One way of doing that is to contribute to the SRS account.

Every dollar you contribute into your SRS account will reduce your taxable income by a dollar, capped at S$12,750 for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents and S$29,750 for foreigners. Investment gains made using SRS funds are tax-free and upon retirement, only 50% of the amount withdrawn will be taxable. You also earn interest of 0.5% p.a. on the cash balances in your SRS account.

Be rewarded with S$88 cash when you open a new SRS account with DBS. Simply be the first 400 customers to:
- Open a new SRS account via iBanking, and
- Contribute a minimum of S$8,500 to your SRS account

Offer ends 31 Dec 2014. So, start saving for a more rewarding retirement today.

Please refer to the website for more details.

OCBC also has a promotion for the first 2,000 new SRS accounts with contributions of S$8,000. You will receive a S$30 Robinsons voucher.

Please refer to the website for more details.

Sing Investments & Finance 50th Anniversary Promotion

Enjoy up to 1.50% p.a. Fixed Deposit Interest for a minimum fresh funds of S$10,000.

Tenure              12 months      36 months
Interest Rate     1.25% p.a.      1.50% p.a.

There is also a free S$50 gift voucher for every S$50,000 fixed deposits placed. Promotion valid while stocks last.

Please refer to the website for more details on the branch locations.

HSBC 8-month SGD Time Deposit Promotion

From now till 31 October 2014, HSBC will offer 1.25% p.a. interest rates on your time deposits of minimum S$50,000 for HSBC Premier customers (1.15% p.a. for HSBC Advance customers)

Interest rate	Minimum	Reward	Roadshow gift
(8-month tenor)	Placement	(Robinsons	Samsonite Dreamies children's backpack
		vouchers)	worth S$45 or S$30 shopping vouchers
	S$50,000	-
up to 1.25% p.a.	S$200,000	S$150 voucher	HSBC Collyer Quay/Holland Village
	S$500,000	S$400 voucher	Marine Parade/Tampines (10 Oct)
	S$1 million	S$800 voucher	HSBC Jurong/Serangoon (11 Oct)

  

For more details, please visit the website.

Government Co-funding for Assisted Reproduction

The Singapore Government has tried ways and means to increase Singapore's Total Fertility Rate by trying to defray the costs of having a baby from giving out Baby Bonuses to Tax Reliefs and Rebate for parents.

Couples seeking help to conceive can apply for government co-funding under the Enhanced Co-funding for Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) at Restructured Hospitals Scheme. 

The scheme provides co-funding for up to 75% of the cost of their ART treatment for a maximum of 3 fresh and 3 frozen ART cycles taken at public hospitals. This covers costly ART treatments procedures such as in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) with or without intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICIS) and gamete intra-fallopian transfer (GIFT). The scheme does not cover Assisted Conception Procedures (ACP) such as intra-uterine insemination (IUI). IUI treatments are relatively less costly, often less than $1,000 per treatment whereas an IVF Fresh Cycle treatment can range from $10,000 to $14,000 depending on the amount of stimulation medication required.

You can use up to $6,000 of your Medisave to defray both ACP expenses and ART bills (after co-funding).

Tip

Couples with children can also benefit from this scheme.

What are Fresh and Frozen ART Cycles?

Fresh ART Cycle	Frozen ART Cycle
Woman receives ovarian stimulation  Eggs are retrieved from ovaries and fertilised in lab to form embryos  Embryos are transferred to the uterus shortly  Note: You can freeze excess embryos for later use	Frozen embryos (excess embryos from a previous fresh ART cycle) are retrieved from storage  Frozen embryos are thawed and transferred to the uterus at an appropriate time

What does the Co-fund ART Scheme Cover?

Covered	Not Covered
Ovarian stimulation  Egg retrieval  Assisted fertilisation  Embryo transfer Freezing of embryos  Storage of frozen embryos for up to 10 years  Thawing of frozen embryos  Other standard ART procedures for both men and women  Note: You can freeze excess embryos for later use	Initial medical consultations and investigations (for treatment suitability)  Consumed ART treatments if you abort the cycle after ovarian stimulation unless the early termination is due to medical reasons as advised by the doctor

How much co-funding can I receive?

The scheme provides co-funding for each couple for a maximum of 3 fresh and 3 frozen ART cycles. The amount of co-funding you are entitled to depends on you and your partner's nationalities. At least one of you must be a Singapore Citizen to enjoy the scheme.

	SC-SC Couple*	SC-PR Couple*	SC-Foreigner Couple*
Per Fresh Cycle	75% ($6300 max)	55% ($4600 max)	35% ($3000 max)
Per Frozen Cycle	75% ($1200 max)	55% ($900 max)	35% ($600 max)

* SC – Singapore Citizen, PR – Permanent Resident

 

Tips

You can use your Medisave to offset remaining costs. Withdrawal limits are set at $6000 (for 1st cycle), $5000 (for 2nd cycle) and $4000 (for 3rd and subsequent cycle), up to a lifetime cap of $15000. These limits also apply to ACP.

Am I Eligible?

To qualify for the scheme, you must:

• Be under age 40 (for women) at the point of embryo transfer 
• Have started or are scheduled to start a treatment cycle at participating public hospitals on or after 1 January 2013, i.e. the date of ovarian simulation (for fresh cycles) or the thawing of the embryo (for frozen cycle) is on or after 1 January 2013. 
• The treatment is either a fresh or frozen ART cycle 
• Be a Singapore Citizen if your spouse is not at the start of the cycle 
• Have not already received co-funding for 3 fresh and 3 frozen cycles in the past 
• Be deemed fit for ART treatments by a medical doctor 

How Do I Apply?

No application is needed. You are only required to complete a declaration form to confirm your eligibility. The form is available at the assisted reproductive clinic of participating public hospitals.

Once the verified eligible, the subsidies will automatically apply to your hospital bill.

Participating Public Hospitals

• National University Hospital (NUH) - Clinic for Human Reproduction
• Singapore General Hospital (SGH) - Centre for Assisted Reproduction
• KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) - KKIVF Centre

 For more details, please refer to the Ministry of Health website.

As a result of the co-funding given by the government, many gynaecologists from the private hospitals often advise patients who are Singapore Citizens and need to have ART treatments to transfer to one of the participating public hospitals in order to enjoy this benefit.  

As Singaporeans tend to marry late these days, by the time they decide to start a family and discover that they need treatment to conceive, they may be their mid-30s already. My advice is : Do start early if you can!