The short answer: an employer in Singapore pays 17% of an employee’s wage into CPF for anyone aged 55 and below, and less for older employees — 16% above 55 to 60 in 2026, rising to 16.5% on 1 January 2027. The rate applies to wages up to the Ordinary Wage ceiling of $8,000 a month, and to total wages of $102,000 in a calendar year including bonuses. The employee’s own share is separate and is deducted from their pay, not added to the employer’s.
Employer rate, age 55 & below
17%
Unchanged in 2026 and 2027
Ordinary Wage ceiling
$8,000/mo
Employer pays at most $1,360 a month at this age
Annual wage ceiling
$102,000
Total OW + AW attracting CPF in a calendar year

Employer CPF Contribution Rates, 2026 and 2027

The employer’s share of a CPF contribution depends on one thing about the employee: their age. It does not depend on how long they have worked for you, on whether they are full-time or part-time, or on how many people you employ. It does depend on their citizenship status for the first two years of Permanent Residence, which has its own table further down.

Both columns below are published. CPF Board released the 2027 tables in the same announcement that set the increase, so the comparison is between two sets of official figures, not between this year and a forecast.

Employer CPF Contribution Rate by Employee Age, 2026 and 2027
Employee age Employer share 2026 Employer share 2027 Change Employee share 2027 Total 2026 → 2027
55 & below 17% 17% No change 20% 37% → 37%
Above 55 to 60 16% 16.5% +0.5 pp 19% 34% → 35.5%
Above 60 to 65 12.5% 13% +0.5 pp 13% 25% → 26%
Above 65 to 70 9% 9% No change 7.5% 16.5% → 16.5%
Above 70 7.5% 7.5% No change 5% 12.5% → 12.5%

Percentages of the employee’s wage, up to the ceilings below. 2 of the 5 employer rates change on 1 January 2027; the rest are unchanged. The band an employee falls into is set by their age, and a new rate applies from the first day of the month after their birthday month — not from the birthday itself and not from 1 January. These are the rates for Singapore Citizens and for Permanent Residents from their 3rd year; the first two PR years are a separate table further down.

The increase on 1 January 2027 is the last step of the multi-year rise in contribution rates for older workers. It lands on employees above 55 to 65 and adds half a percentage point to the employer’s share in each of those two bands. Nothing changes for employees aged 55 and below, who are the majority of most payrolls, and nothing changes above 65.

The Wage Ceilings and the Annual Cap

Two limits cap what any employer owes for any employee. The Ordinary Wage ceiling caps the monthly salary that attracts CPF; the annual wage ceiling caps the total of ordinary and additional wages for the calendar year. Neither moves between 2026 and 2027 — the Ordinary Wage ceiling finished its stepped increase on 1 January 2026.

CPF Wage Ceilings and the Annual Cap, 2026 and 2027
Limit 2026 2027 What it means for payroll
Ordinary Wage (OW) ceiling $8,000 $8,000 Monthly salary attracting CPF. Wage above it attracts none.
Maximum OW attracting CPF in a year $96,000 $96,000 $8,000 × 12 months.
Annual wage ceiling $102,000 $102,000 Total Ordinary plus Additional Wages attracting CPF in a calendar year.
Additional Wage (AW) ceiling $6,000 $6,000 The annual ceiling minus the OW that actually attracted CPF. Shown here for an employee at the OW ceiling all year; it is larger for anyone paid less.

The Ordinary Wage ceiling completed its stepped increase on 1 January 2026 and does not move again in 2027. The Additional Wage ceiling is not a fixed number: it is the annual wage ceiling less the ordinary wages that attracted CPF during the year, so an employee paid below the OW ceiling has more AW headroom than the figure above. The AW calculation is settled at the end of the year, or when the employee leaves, whichever comes first.

The Additional Wage ceiling is a calculation, not a fixed number. It is the annual wage ceiling less the ordinary wages that actually attracted CPF during the year, so it is larger for an employee paid below the monthly ceiling than for one paid above it. An employee on $5,000 a month uses $60,000 of the $102,000 annual ceiling and can receive $42,000 in bonuses before CPF stops being payable; an employee at the $8,000 monthly ceiling all year has used $96,000 of it and has $6,000 of headroom left. The calculation is settled at the end of the year, or when the employee leaves, whichever comes first.

The Most You Can Pay for One Employee

Because both ceilings are fixed, an employer’s CPF cost per employee has a hard maximum. Above the Ordinary Wage ceiling, a raise costs the company the raise and nothing else — which is worth knowing when the alternative structure is a bonus, where CPF may still be payable up to the annual cap.

Maximum Employer CPF Contribution per Employee, 2026 and 2027
Employee age Per month, at the OW ceiling Per year, on OW alone 2027 at the full $102,000 ceiling Change on 2026
2026 2027 2026 2027
55 & below $1,360 $1,360 $16,320 $16,320 $17,340 No change
Above 55 to 60 $1,280 $1,320 $15,360 $15,840 $16,830 +$510
Above 60 to 65 $1,000 $1,040 $12,000 $12,480 $13,260 +$510
Above 65 to 70 $720 $720 $8,640 $8,640 $9,180 No change
Above 70 $600 $600 $7,200 $7,200 $7,650 No change

The employer’s share only; the employee’s own contribution is deducted from their pay and is not part of this cost. The monthly figure is the employer rate applied to the $8,000 Ordinary Wage ceiling, so it is the figure for every employee paid at or above the ceiling. The last two columns assume the whole $102,000 annual ceiling is used — twelve months of ordinary wages at the cap plus enough Additional Wage to reach it — which is the worst case for a headcount budget. An employee who crosses an age band during the year is charged at each band for the months it applied.

Part-Time and Low-Wage Employees

This is the row payroll gets wrong most often, and it costs money rather than saving it. CPF Board publishes a phase-in for wages of $750 and below, and it is easy to read as a discount for both sides. It is not: the phase-in applies to the employee’s share alone.

Employer CPF on Wages of $750 and Below, 2027
Employee age Total wages > $50 to $500 > $500 to $750 Above $750 Employee share across those two bands
55 & below 17% of total wages 17% of total wages 17% of OW + AW Nil → 0.6 × (TW − $500)
Above 55 to 60 16.5% of total wages 16.5% of total wages 16.5% of OW + AW Nil → 0.57 × (TW − $500)
Above 60 to 65 13% of total wages 13% of total wages 13% of OW + AW Nil → 0.39 × (TW − $500)
Above 65 to 70 9% of total wages 9% of total wages 9% of OW + AW Nil → 0.225 × (TW − $500)
Above 70 7.5% of total wages 7.5% of total wages 7.5% of OW + AW Nil → 0.15 × (TW − $500)

The phase-in below $750 applies to the employee’s share, not the employer’s. The employer pays its full rate from the first dollar above $50 of total wages, so a part-timer on $400 a month costs the company the same percentage as a full-timer — a common payroll surprise. Below $50 of total wages in a month nothing is payable by either side. TW is total wages for the month; the employee’s share in the middle band is a formula, not a rate.

Permanent Resident Employees

A new Permanent Resident is on a graduated table for their first two years, and so is their employer. The default is G/G — graduated on both sides — which applies automatically with no application and no election. F/G, where the employer pays the full rate while the employee stays graduated, applies only where the employer has applied to CPF Board for it; it costs the company more and makes no difference to the employee’s take-home pay.

Employer CPF Contribution Rate for a Permanent Resident Employee, 2026
Employee age 1st year, graduated (G/G) 2nd year, graduated (G/G) 1st year, full employer (F/G) 2nd year, full employer (F/G) 3rd year onwards
55 & below 4% 9% 17% 17% 17%
Above 55 to 60 4% 6% 16% 16% 16%
Above 60 to 65 3.5% 3.5% 12.5% 12.5% 12.5%
Above 65 to 70 3.5% 3.5% 9% 9% 9%
Above 70 3.5% 3.5% 7.5% 7.5% 7.5%

The employer’s share only, as a percentage of wage. G/G is the default and applies automatically to every new PR. F/G applies only where the employer has applied to CPF Board to pay the full employer rate while the employee stays on the graduated one — it costs the company more and changes nothing in the employee’s take-home pay. PR year 1 runs from the month PR status took effect, not from the date of hire, and CPF Board publishes the G/G tables with a single “above 65” band, which is why the last two rows carry the same figure. The full table, including the employee share, is on the CPF contribution rates for PRs reference.

PR year 1 runs from the month PR status took effect, not from the date of hire. The reference date is the one on the Entry Permit issued by ICA. Time on an Employment Pass before that does not count towards it, and neither does the calendar year: an employee granted PR in October is a 1st-year PR until the following October, and the next rate applies from the first day of the month after each anniversary. Applying the wrong PR year is the most common payroll error for new PRs, and it is the employer who applies it.

What the Employer Does Not Owe

Three things sit outside the employer’s share, and all three are routinely double-counted in a headcount budget.

Sources. Every figure on this page is generated from CPF Board’s published tables, not typed: CPF Contribution Rate Table from 1 January 2026 and CPF Contribution Rate Table from 1 January 2027, each carrying Table 1 for Singapore Citizens and PRs from the 3rd year, Tables 2 and 3 for the graduated G/G rates in PR years 1 and 2, and Tables 4 and 5 for the F/G rates, together with the wage ceilings and the phase-in bands below $750; and CPF Contribution Changes from 1 January 2027 for the announcement itself. Retrieved 20 August 2026. This page states no filing deadline and no late-payment interest rate: those are real employer obligations, but we publish no figure we cannot trace to a primary source — see our editorial policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the employer CPF contribution rate in Singapore in 2026?

17% of the employee’s wage for an employee aged 55 and below. The employer’s share falls with the employee’s age: 16% above 55 to 60, 12.5% above 60 to 65, 9% above 65 to 70 and 7.5% above 70. These are the employer shares only; the employee pays their own share on top, deducted from their pay.

Which employer CPF rates change on 1 January 2027?

The employer share rises half a percentage point for two age bands: above 55 to 60 (16% to 16.5%) and above 60 to 65 (12.5% to 13%). Every other employer rate is unchanged, including the 17% rate for employees aged 55 and below. The wage ceilings and the annual cap do not change either.

What is the maximum CPF an employer pays for one employee per month?

$1,360 a month in 2026 for an employee aged 55 and below — 17% of the $8,000 Ordinary Wage ceiling. Paying an employee more than $8,000 a month adds no further CPF cost on their ordinary wages. The maximum is lower for older employees because their employer rate is lower.

Is there an annual cap on employer CPF contributions?

Yes. Total wages attracting CPF are capped at $102,000 per employee per calendar year, covering ordinary wages and additional wages such as bonuses together. An employee at the $8,000 monthly ceiling all year uses $96,000 of that, leaving $6,000 of headroom for bonuses before CPF stops being payable.

Does an employer pay CPF on bonuses?

Yes, up to the Additional Wage ceiling. Bonuses, the Annual Wage Supplement and other irregular payments are Additional Wages, and CPF is payable on them at the same rates as ordinary wages until total wages for the year reach $102,000. The Additional Wage ceiling is $102,000 minus the ordinary wages that actually attracted CPF during the year, so it is larger for an employee paid below the monthly ceiling.

Does an employer pay CPF for a part-time or low-wage employee?

Yes, and at the full employer rate. The phase-in below $750 a month applies only to the employee’s share: the employer pays 17% of total wages for an employee aged 55 and below from the first dollar above $50 a month, whether that wage is $400 or $4,000. Nothing is payable by either side where total wages for the month are $50 or less.

What does an employer pay for a Permanent Resident employee?

Less, for the first two years. On the default graduated (G/G) table an employer pays 4% for a 1st-year PR aged 55 and below and 9% in the 2nd year, against 17% from the 3rd year onwards. PR year 1 starts in the month PR status took effect, not in the month the employee was hired.

When does an employee’s new age band take effect for payroll?

From the first day of the month after the employee’s birthday month. An employee turning 56 in March is on the 55-and-below rates for March and on the above-55-to-60 rates from 1 April. The change is not made on the birthday itself and not at the start of the calendar year.