Singapore legislation
Section 2
Section 2
Interpretation
(1)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
Definition
“additional interest” means the interest referred to in section 6(4B);
Definition
“approved annuity” means an annuity approved by the Board for the purposes of section 15(6C)(b) or the former section 15(6C)(b);
Definition
“approved bank” means a bank approved by the Board for the purposes of section 15(6C)(a) or the former section 15(6C)(b);
Definition
“approved corporation” means any company which —
is incorporated in Singapore;
is —
wholly or partly owned by the Government;
a subsidiary of a company wholly or partly owned by the Government; or
a subsidiary of a statutory board; and
is approved by the Minister;
Definition
“assessor” means a person having the necessary qualifications approved by the Minister charged with the responsibility for health, subject to such conditions as that Minister may impose, to conduct, and report, on disability assessments for the purposes of a certification under section 16B(2);
Definition
“Board” means the Central Provident Fund Board constituted under section 3;
Definition
“CareShield Life Scheme” means the CareShield Life Scheme established by section 5 of the CareShield Life and Long‑Term Care Act 2019;
Definition
“certifying body” means a body appointed by the Minister charged with the responsibility for health —
to certify whether a member needs long‑term care based on the conditions prescribed in regulations made under section 77(1); and
to determine the matters in sections 16B and 16C;
Definition
“chief executive officer” means the chief executive of the Board, and includes any individual acting in that capacity;
Definition
“collector” means any person or a member of a class of persons, specified by regulations made under section 77(1) to be a person who is required under section 9B to pay an estimated contribution in respect of a self-employed person;
Definition
“contract” means any contract, whether written or oral, and whether express or implied;
Definition
“ElderShield Scheme” means the ElderShield Scheme established by section 11 of the CareShield Life and Long‑Term Care Act 2019;
Definition
“employed” means engaged under a contract of service or apprenticeship or in an employment in respect of which contributions are payable under regulations made under section 77(1);
Definition
“employee” means any person who —
is employed in Singapore by an employer otherwise than as a master, a seaman or an apprentice in any vessel; or
being a citizen of Singapore is employed —
as a master, a seaman or an apprentice in any vessel, the owners of which have not been exempted from the provisions of this Act; and
under a contract of service or other agreement entered into in Singapore;
Definition
“employer” means —
any person, company, association or body of persons, whether or not incorporated, by whom an employee is employed;
the owners of any vessel on which an employee is employed;
any manager, agent or person responsible for the payment of wages to an employee on behalf of an employer; and
the Government in respect of such categories, classes or descriptions of officers or employees of such Government as may from time to time be declared by the President by notification in the Gazette to be employees for the purposes of this Act;
Definition
“estimated contribution” means a contribution to the Fund payable by a collector under section 9B;
Definition
“flat” means a horizontal stratum of any building or part thereof, whether the stratum or part is on one or more levels or is partially or wholly below the surface of the ground;
Definition
“Fund” means the Central Provident Fund established under section 6;
Definition
“general moneys of the Fund” means the moneys of the Fund (whether or not standing to the credit of any member in the Fund) that are not accounted for in any subsidiary account maintained for a member in respect of the money standing to the member’s credit in the Fund;
Definition
“HDB flat” means any flat, house or other building sold under Part 4 or 4B of the Housing and Development Act 1959 which has been acquired by the present owner thereof whether directly from the Housing and Development Board or otherwise;
Definition
“Housing and Development Board” means the Housing and Development Board constituted under the Housing and Development Act 1959;
Definition
“immovable property” includes —
any estate or interest in land comprising a building or flat which is erected or to be erected on the land;
any undivided share in any estate or interest in land comprising several flats erected or to be erected thereon;
Definition
“inspector” means an inspector appointed under section 5(1);
Definition
“interest in land” means any interest in land recognised as such by law, and includes an estate in land;
Definition
“investigator” means an investigator appointed under section 58D(1) or (2);
Definition
“land” includes land, freehold or leasehold, or of whatever tenure, whether or not held apart from the surface, and buildings or parts thereof (whether completed or otherwise and whether divided horizontally, vertically or in any other manner), and tenements and hereditaments, corporeal or incorporeal;
Definition
“Lifelong Income Fund” means the Lifelong Income Fund established and maintained by the Board under section 27N;
Definition
“master” and “seaman” have the meanings given by the Merchant Shipping Act 1995;
Definition
“medisave account” means a medisave account maintained under section 13;
Definition
“MediShield Life Scheme” means the MediShield Life Scheme referred to in section 3 of the MediShield Life Scheme Act 2015;
Definition
“member of the Fund” or “member” means any person to whose credit any amount is standing in the Fund, or for whom any account in the Fund is maintained for any of the purposes of this Act;
Definition
“nominee account” means any nominee ordinary account, nominee medisave account, nominee special account or nominee retirement account maintained for a deceased member under section 20(1D);
Definition
“ordinary account” means an ordinary account maintained under section 13;
Definition
“payout benchmark applicable to the member” means the payout benchmark specified by the Minister in relation to the member under section 15(8CA)(a) or (c);
Definition
“prescribed age” means such age of a member as the Minister may prescribe by regulations made under section 77(1), and the Minister may prescribe different ages for different purposes and in respect of different classes of members;
Definition
“relevant individual” means such individual as the Minister may prescribe by regulations made under section 77(1) for the purposes of section 18(1)(a), (2)(a) and (3)(a), and the Minister may prescribe different individuals in different regulations for different purposes;
Definition
“reserved amount”, in relation to a member, means such reserved amount referred to in section 15(2A)(c), (6)(c), (7B)(c) or (8A)(c) as may be applicable to the member;
Definition
“retirement account” means a retirement account —
maintained for the crediting, transfer and payment to the account of moneys or contributions in accordance with this Act; and
from which withdrawals, transfers and deductions may be made in accordance with this Act;
Definition
“retirement sum”, in relation to a member, means any of the following as may be applicable:
the retirement sum mentioned in section 15(6)(a) that is applicable to the member;
the minimum sum mentioned in section 15(6)(a), as in force immediately before 1 January 2017, that is applicable to the member;
Definition
“revenue payment” means any payment prescribed by regulations made under section 77(1) to be a revenue payment for the purposes of section 9B;
Definition
“securities account” means a securities account with the Central Depository (Pte) Limited;
Definition
“self-employed person” has the meaning given by any regulations made under section 77(1)(e);
Definition
“shares” includes warrants, transferable subscription rights, options to subscribe for shares, convertibles and other security interests arising from or accruing or attaching to the shares;
Definition
“special account” means a special account maintained under section 13;
Definition
“Supplement Scheme” means the Supplement Scheme defined in section 2(1) of the CareShield Life and Long‑Term Care Act 2019;
Definition
“Town Council” means a Town Council established under the Town Councils Act 1988;
Definition
“wages” means the remuneration in money, including any bonus, due or granted to a person in respect of the person’s employment but does not include such payments as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, specify.
(1AA)
1AA
In this Act —
a reference to the former section 15(6C)(b) is a reference to section 15(6C)(b), as in force immediately before 1 January 2017; and
a reference to an amount referred to in section 15(6C)(a) is a reference to an amount deposited with an approved bank or retained in the member’s retirement account under that section or the former section 15(6C)(b).
(1A)
For the purposes of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires or any regulations made under section 77(1)(a) provide otherwise —
an individual attains a particular age expressed in years on the corresponding anniversary of the date of that individual’s birth; and
despite paragraph (a), where an individual was born on 29 February in any year, then, in any subsequent year that is not a leap year, the anniversary of that individual’s birth is deemed to occur on 1 March of that subsequent year.
(1B)
For the purposes of this Act, a member’s accounts in the Fund are deemed to be dormant if, and with effect from the date on which, all of the following requirements are satisfied:
the member has attained, or is deemed to have attained, such age as may be prescribed in any regulations made under section 77(1) for the purposes of this subsection (called in this subsection the relevant regulations);
there exist such circumstances as may be prescribed in the relevant regulations;
the Board has notified the member, in such manner as may be prescribed in the relevant regulations, that the member is required to satisfy the Board that he or she is still alive; (d)the member fails to do so in accordance with the relevant regulations.
(1C)
When calculating the age of a member for the purposes of subsection (1B), the following provisions apply:
where the day of the month on which the member was born cannot be ascertained, he or she is deemed to be born on the first day of the month in which he or she was born;
where the month in which the member was born cannot be ascertained, he or she is deemed to be born in January; (c)where the year in which the member was born cannot be ascertained, he or she is deemed to have attained the age of 20 years —
on the date of the member’s last known contribution to the Fund; or
if that date cannot be readily ascertained, on 1 January 1970.
(2)
[Deleted by Act 6 of 2016]
(3)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, where a person referred to in subsection (4)(a) lacks capacity within the meaning of section 4 of the Mental Capacity Act 2008 —
any thing which the person might have done, or which would have applied to him or her, under any provision referred to in subsection (4)(b), if he or she had such capacity, and any thing which would have applied to him or her in any event under any provision referred to in subsection (4)(b), may likewise be done by, or will likewise apply to, a deputy appointed or deemed to be appointed for the person by the court under the Mental Capacity Act 2008 with power in relation to the person for the purposes of this Act; and
any thing which the person might have done, or which would have applied to him or her, under any provision referred to in subsection (4)(c), if he or she had such capacity, and any thing which would have applied to him or her in any event under any provision referred to in subsection (4)(c), may likewise be done by, or will likewise apply to, a donee under a lasting power of attorney registered under the Mental Capacity Act 2008 with power in relation to the person for the purposes of this Act.
(4)
The Minister may, by regulations made under all or any of sections 23, 27Q, 39, 49A, 51, 56A, 57F, and 77(1), prescribe —
the persons to whom subsection (3) applies;
the provisions in this Act to which subsection (3)(a) applies;
the provisions in this Act to which subsection (3)(b) applies; and
how any provision referred to in paragraph (b) or (c) will be modified in its application to either or both of the following:
a deputy appointed or deemed to be appointed for any person referred to in paragraph (a) by the court under the Mental Capacity Act 2008 with power in relation to that person for the purposes of this Act;
a donee under a lasting power of attorney registered under the Mental Capacity Act 2008 with power in relation to any person referred to in paragraph (a) for the purposes of this Act.
(5)
For the purposes of this Act, a reference to the Board being satisfied that a person lacks capacity within the meaning of section 4 of the Mental Capacity Act 2008 includes a reference to the Board being satisfied that the person’s lack of capacity is likely to be permanent.
(6)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference to the amount payable on a member’s death out of the Fund is to be construed as a reference to the balance standing to the credit of the member in the Fund after deducting all of the following amounts:
any sum withdrawn, or to be withdrawn, under section 16A;
any sum credited, or to be credited, to the account of another person under section 19(2) or (6) or 19A(2) or (6);
any sum transferred or paid, or to be transferred or paid, to another person under section 27B or to the general moneys of the Fund under section 14(3C); (d)any sum recovered, or to be recovered, by the Board under section 14(3) or (3A), 27N(4) or 57C(5) or (6).
(7)
For the purposes of sections 6(4C) and (4D), 13(7A), (7B) and (7C), 26 and 26A, where a member has died, but the day on which, or the month or year in which, the member died cannot be ascertained, the following provisions apply:
where the day of the month on which the member died cannot be ascertained, the member is deemed to have died —
in any case where the Board has received satisfactory proof, or obtained reliable information, that the member died within a particular period, on the last day of that period; or
in any other case, on the first day of the month in which the member died or is deemed under paragraph (b) to have died;
where the month in which the member died cannot be ascertained, the member is deemed to have died —
in any case where the Board has received satisfactory proof, or obtained reliable information, that the member died within a particular period, in the last month of that period; or
in any other case, in January of the year in which the member died or is deemed under paragraph (c) to have died; and
where the year in which the member died cannot be ascertained, and the Board has received satisfactory proof, or obtained reliable information, that the member died within a particular period, the member is deemed to have died in the last year of that period.
(8)
For the purposes of determining the rates of contributions applicable to a member whose date, month or year of birth cannot be ascertained, the following provisions apply:
where the day of the month on which the member was born cannot be ascertained, he or she is deemed to be born on the first day of the month in which he or she was born;
where the month in which the member was born cannot be ascertained, he or she is deemed to be born in January; and
where the year in which the member was born cannot be ascertained, he or she is deemed to be below 35 years of age at the time the determination is made.
(9)
Despite subsection (8), where the Board has computed the amount of contributions payable by a member or his or her employer in reliance on that subsection, and the Board is notified subsequently, in such manner as the Board may require, of the date, month or year of birth of the member —
the Board may recompute the amount of contributions payable by the member or his or her employer, as the case may be; and
if the recomputed amount is higher than the amount that the Board computed originally —
the Board may issue to the member or his or her employer (as the case may be) a notice specifying the recomputed amount; and
the member or his or her employer (as the case may be) must pay, within such time as is specified in the notice, the shortfall, in addition to the amount that the Board computed originally if not previously paid.