You can get a waiver for your MDW levy payments only under certain situations. These include overseas leave and hospitalisation leave.
When and what you need to get a levy waiver
| If your helper |
You need |
| Went on overseas leave for at least 7 consecutive days. It is capped at 60 calendar days per calendar year. |
No documents needed. Apply for the waiver after your helper returns to Singapore.
If the helper chooses not to return from overseas leave, cancel the Work Permit before you apply for a waiver.
|
| Was issued with hospitalisation leave by a Singapore-registered doctor from a local medical institution. It is capped at 60 calendar days per calendar year. |
Medical certificate (MC) showing all of the following:
- Helper's name and FIN
- Period of hospitalisation leave
- Name of clinic or hospital
- Doctor's name
- MC number
|
| Was in the custody of the police or embassy |
A letter from the relevant organisation stating the period of custody. |
| Passed away |
A copy of her death certificate. |
When and how to apply
You can apply for levy waiver from the 1st of the following month after receiving the levy bill. You must apply within 1 year of the levy bill.
If the waiver period you are applying for is from March 2024 to April 2024, you will receive the levy bill in May 2024. You can submit the application between 1 June 2024 and 31 March 2025.
Receive the outcome
The levy waiver request will be processed within 12 working days. It may take longer if additional information is required from the applicant or other agencies such as the Immigration Checkpoints & Authority or Police.
You can check the application status for each helper. The outcome will be updated for each helper as soon as it is available. Once we have processed the levy waiver for all the helpers in the application, you will receive an email summarising the outcome for all helpers in the application.
After your waiver is approved
The amount waived will be credited into your levy account to offset your next levy bill. Any remaining amount that was not used to offset the next levy bill will be shown as ‘CR’ in your account summary in Check and pay foreign worker levy. It will then remain in your levy account to offset any future levy payments.
If you do not have upcoming levy bills, you can apply for
levy refund to have the outstanding amount credited into your bank account.
How to calculate the waiver
Amount waived = Monthly levy rate - Levy payable
Scenario
- Waiver period: 1 – 15 September
- Helper’s levy rate: $300 monthly (or $9.87 daily)
How to calculate
- Count the number of days from 16 to 30 September where levy is payable, i.e. 15 days.
- Find out the amount of levy payable using daily rate, i.e. 15 days × $9.87 = $148.05
- Amount waived = Monthly levy rate - Levy payable
$300 (monthly levy rate) - $148.05 (levy payable) = $151.95 (amount waived)
View the levy rates.