Central Provident Fund Act 1953 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 3 · Withdrawal of Contributions
19D. Refund of moneys transferred before commencement date or paid before 1 November 2008 under section 18
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2023. 2 amendments in all.
A person may apply, on or after the commencement date but before 1 April 2022 and in the manner specified by the Board, for the refund of any of the following moneys:
Board
“Board” means the Central Provident Fund Board constituted under section 3;
moneys transferred by the person before the commencement date to the retirement account or special account of a relevant individual under section 18(1)(a), (2)(a) or (3)(a), as the case may be;
moneys paid by the person before 1 November 2008 to his or her parent’s, grandparent’s, spouse’s or sibling’s retirement account under section 18(1)(b) or (2)(b) as in force immediately before 1 November 2008;
moneys paid by the person before 1 November 2008 to his or her spouse’s or sibling’s special account under section 18(3)(b) as in force immediately before 1 November 2008.
On an application for the refund of moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(a), the Board must refund the remaining moneys to the giver’s account from which such moneys were transferred, if the conditions specified by the Board are met.
On an application for the refund of moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(b) or (c), the Board —
must pay the remaining moneys to the payer, if the conditions specified by the Board are met; or
if the Board has been notified that the payer has died at the time of payment, may pay the remaining moneys —
to the personal representatives of the deceased payer; or
if to the best of the Board’s knowledge the deceased payer does not have any personal representatives, and if the amount that the payer would have received does not exceed such amount as the Minister may specify — to a proper claimant.
The receipt of the proper claimant is a discharge to the Board for the payment to the proper claimant under subsection (3)(b)(ii).
Where payment has been made to a proper claimant under subsection (3)(b)(ii), this section does not affect any recourse that any person may have against the proper claimant for that amount.
Subsections (2) and (3) apply on or after the commencement date despite —
the death of the recipient of the moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c), as the case may be; or
the Board’s receipt of the recipient’s application to withdraw any sum from the Fund under section 15(2)(b) or (c) as in force before 1 April 2024,on or after the Board receives the application under subsection (1).
The Board may without any application under subsection (1) —
refund the remaining moneys in relation to moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(a) in accordance with subsection (2); or
pay the remaining moneys in relation to moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(b) or (c) in accordance with subsection (3).
Subsections (2), (3) and (7) do not apply if an event mentioned in subsection (6)(a) or (b) has occurred before the commencement date.
In this section —
“applicable provision” means section 15(2)(d), (e), (f) or (g), (2B), (7), (7C) or (8B) as in force immediately before the date of commencement of section 4 of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Act 2021, or section 15(7) or 15AA(1) or (6);
“child” means a legitimate child and includes any child adopted by virtue of an order of court under any written law for the time being in force in Singapore, Malaysia or Brunei Darussalam;
order of court
“order of court” means —(a)an order made under section 112 of the Women’s Charter 1961 in proceedings for divorce, judicial separation or nullity of marriage under Part 10 of the Women’s Charter 1961; (b)an order made under section 52(3)(d), (7) or (9) of the Administration of Muslim Law Act 1966 in proceedings for divorce or nullity of marriage under Part 3 of that Act; or(c)an order made under section 121G of the Women’s Charter 1961, being an order which the court could have made under section 112 of the Women’s Charter 1961;
“commencement date” means the date of commencement of section 58 of the Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Act 2021;
“giver”, in relation to moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(a), means the person from whom those moneys were transferred to the recipient’s retirement account or special account;
retirement account
“retirement account” means a retirement account —(a)maintained for the crediting, transfer and payment to the account of moneys or contributions in accordance with this Act; and(b)from which withdrawals, transfers and deductions may be made in accordance with this Act;
“parent” includes an adoptive parent;
“payer”, in relation to moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(b) or (c), means the person who paid those moneys to the recipient’s retirement account or special account;
special account
“special account” means a special account maintained under section 13;
“proper claimant” means a person who —
claims to be entitled to the remaining moneys on the death of the payer mentioned in subsection (3) as executor of the deceased payer; or
claims to be entitled to the remaining moneys on the death of the payer mentioned in subsection (3) (whether for his or her own benefit or not), and is the widower, widow, child, grandchild, parent, brother, sister, nephew, niece, grandparent, uncle or aunt of the deceased payer;
“recipient”, in relation to moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c), means the person to whose retirement account or special account those moneys were transferred or paid;
“remaining moneys” means the moneys mentioned in subsection (1)(a), (b) or (c) (as the case may be) that remain standing in the recipient’s account mentioned in that subsection immediately before the refund is made, but excludes any of those moneys that had been withdrawn from the recipient’s account under an applicable provision before the refund and then restored to the recipient’s account because —
the payment of the withdrawn moneys was unsuccessful; or
the instrument in respect of that payment was returned to the Board or has expired.