The Skills Development Levy (SDL) is a levy imposed under the Skills Development Levy Act 1979 on employers and it is mandatory. The SDL is a separate levy from other payments such as the Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution or Foreign Worker Levy (FWL).

SDL collected are channelled to the Skills Development Fund (SDF) which is used to support workforce upgrading programmes and to provide training grants to employers when they send their employees to attend training under our national Continuing Education and Training system.

The SDL and SDF are administered by the SkillsFuture Singapore Agency (SSG).

The amount of SDL payable is to be determined in accordance with Section 3 of the Skills Development Levy Act 1979.

With effect from 1 October 2008, the SDL payable is at 0.25% of the monthly remuneration for each employee, with the minimum payable of $2 (for an employee earning less than $800 a month) and a maximum of $11.25 (for an employee earning more than $4,500 a month).

The history of SDL salary ceiling and the applicable rates is shown in the table below:

From	To	Remuneration ceiling	Rate of Contribution	Minimum Contribution Per Employee	Maximum Contribution Per Employee
1 July 2000#	30 Jun 2004	$1,500	1%	$2	$15
1 July 2004	31 August 2005	$1,800	1%	$2	$18
1 September 2005	30 September 2008	$2,000	1%	$2	$20
1 October 2008	Current	Up to $4,500*	0.25%	$2	$11.25

* Prior to 1 October 2008, an employer does not have to contribute SDL for employees whose monthly remuneration is above the salary ceiling. However, with effect from 1 October 2008, an employer will have to contribute SDL even if the monthly remuneration exceeds the salary ceiling. This is because the revised SDL regulations stipulate that the contribution is up to the first $4,500 of monthly remuneration.

# The legal requirement for SDL contributions by employers was introduced via gazette in Oct 1979. For employers who need to know the rates earlier than 1 July 2000, they may contact SSG for direct assistance.

The Government will review the levy rate regularly and any revision will take into account the need to maintain workforce and industry competitiveness through continuous skills upgrading and development.

All employers are required to pay SDL for their employees. For the purposes of the Skills Development Levy Act 1979, an ‘employer’ is a person (or entity) who pays or is liable to pay any remuneration to an employee.

SDL is not payable for the following employees:

An employee who is a domestic servant, chauffeur or gardener wholly and exclusively employed by an individual otherwise than in connection with that individual’s trade, business, profession or vocation.    An employee who does not render any services in Singapore in relation to a month. This excludes employee who is on leave for that month that is arising from his or her employment in Singapore.

 

Please refer to FAQ 3.1 for more details on exemptions.

Yes. The definition of ‘employer’ in the Skills Development Levy Act 1979 draws no distinction between an employer who is a statutory body and an employer who is a private entity.

SDL is not payable, in respect of a calendar month on account of an employee who renders services wholly outside Singapore.

Employers are required to login to the SDL system to submit declaration on non-liability of SDL to SSG for these employees via the E-Declaration module. Please refer to Section 9 – Declaration on Non-liability of SDL for more details.

Yes. There is no distinction between foreign and local employees under the definition of ‘employee’ in the Skills Development Levy Act 1979.  Any SDL payable for the foreign employee is in addition to any foreign employee levy payable to the Ministry of Manpower.

The SDL is a levy imposed under the Skills Development Levy Act 1979, and it is different from the Foreign Worker Levy (FWL) which is a levy imposed by the Government via Ministry of Manpower for the administration of foreign workers with work permits. In short, SDL contributions are channelled to the Skills Development Fund which is used to build a national Continuing Education and Training (CET) system and provide financial assistance for employers to send their employees for training under the national CET system.

Yes. For example, Company A has five employees and is liable to pay remuneration to those employees. Company A engages a third party agent, Company B, to pay remuneration to the five employees on its (Company A’s) behalf.  There is no contractual relationship between Company B and the employees.

In the above scenario, Company A is still required to pay SDL for the five employees, notwithstanding that the remuneration is paid by Company B on its behalf.

SDL is not applicable on the fees paid to its directors. However, SDL is payable on director's remuneration if it is paid pursuant to an employment contract where the director is employed as an employee of the company.

SDL is not payable on the remuneration paid to its partners. SDL is payable on the remuneration paid to the employee(s) employed by the partnership.

No. The earnings by self-employed persons such as taxi drivers and hawkers who own their business are not considered ‘remuneration’ for the purposes of the Skills Development Levy Act 1979. For the purposes of the SDL Act, ‘remuneration’ has to be paid to an employee.  However, the self-employed person has to pay SDL on account of the remuneration paid to his employees (if any).

Yes. SDL is payable for both full-time and part-time employees.

Yes. Please be informed that the Skills Development Levy (Exemption) Order which operated prior to 1 April 2014 on the SDL exemption for employee whose length of employment is less than a complete month is no longer in force.

No. The collection of SDL and the disbursement of SDF training assistance are separate matters. SDF training assistance is given as financial incentives to employers to upgrade the skills of their workers. The SDL payment by an employer is not tied to the amount of funding the employer can obtain from SDF for the training of its workers. All companies registered or incorporated in Singapore are eligible to apply for SDF training assistance. We encourage employers to upgrade the skills of their workforce.  For details on SDF funding, please visit SSG website.

No. Companies and LLPs have legal personalities separate from those of its shareholders or partners. Liability to pay outstanding SDL remains with the company or LLP notwithstanding a change in shareholders or partners.

Where appropriate, you may wish to consider the examples in Annex A for a general guide as to whether SDL is payable on account of various types of payment an employer paid to the employee.

SDL is not payable for the following employees:

An employee who is a domestic servant, chauffeur or gardener wholly and exclusively employed by an individual otherwise than in connection with that individual’s trade, business, profession or vocation.    An employee who does not render any services in Singapore in relation to a month. This excludes employee who is on leave for that month that is arising from his or her employment in Singapore.

 

For both the above categories, employers are required to login to the SDL system to submit declaration on non-liability of SDL to SSG for these employees via the E-Declaration module with the details of such employees (e.g. employees’ details, duration in which the employees are working overseas, etc.). Please refer Section 9 – Declaration on Non-liability of SDL for more details on the procedure and supporting documents. For system instructions, please refer to the SDL System User Guide on the E-Declaration module.

An employee who is the subject of exemption under the Skills Development Levy (Exemption) Order 2014 made under the Skills Development Levy Act 1979. Details as follow:      A matriculated or registered student of any of the following institutions who is employed for the training approved by the institution in question: Institute of Technical Education Nanyang Polytechnic Nanyang Technological University National University of Singapore Ngee Ann Polytechnic Republic Polytechnic Singapore Institute of Technology Singapore Management University Singapore Polytechnic Singapore University of Social Sciences Singapore University of Technology and Design Temasek Polytechnic A matriculated or registered student of any overseas tertiary education institution who is required by the institution to undergo training in Singapore for a period of not more than 6 months. The exemption of SDL is subject to the condition that the employer of the student submits to the SSG a letter issued by the overseas tertiary education institution which confirms that: the student is a matriculated or registered student of the institution; and the student is required by the institution to undergo training in Singapore. A registered student (other than a student who has completed his “A” level examinations) of any school registered under the Education Act (Cap. 87) and who is employed during the gazetted school holidays. Students of Government schools, excluding tertiary institutions, working during their scheduled school holidays. 'N' & 'O' level Government school students working during the scheduled school holidays. ‘A’ level students working during scheduled school holidays before their "A" level examinations.

SDL is payable on the first $4,500 of monthly remuneration at the rate of 0.25%, subject to a minimum of $2. The table below gives an example of how to calculate SDL payable:

Employee	Monthly Remuneration	SDL Payable	Remarks
A	$150.80	$2.00	Minimum of $2 is payable for those less than $800
B	$609.50	$2.00	Minimum of $2 is payable for those earning less than $800
C	$2,000.00	$5.00	0.25% of monthly remuneration
D	$4,500.00	$11.25	0.25% of monthly remuneration
E	$4,502.03	$11.25	SDL is on the first $4,500 only
F	$10,000.00	$11.25	SDL is on the first $4,500 only
	Total	$42.75
Total SDL Payable		$42.00	Rounding down is done at the total for the whole organisation and not on each employee.

Remuneration is defined in the Skills Development Levy Act 1979 as “any wages, salary, commission, bonuses, allowances (including a housing allowance or other like allowance) or other emoluments paid in cash by or on behalf of an employer to an employee, and includes any leave pay”.

For a month where the employee is paid bonus or allowance, the amount of bonus or allowance is computed as remuneration for that month.

For example, if the employee's salary for December is $3,000 and the bonus paid in December is $1,000, SDL should be computed based on $4,000 ($3,000 +$1,000). SDL payable is $10 ($4,000 x 0.25%).

If remuneration is paid in a foreign currency, the employer should compute the amount of SDL payable by reference to the equivalent remuneration in the Singapore dollars.

The remuneration can be converted to Singapore dollars using any of the published exchange rates used by a major local bank.

If the employer pays or is liable to pay remuneration to the employee on account of his employment during the period of leave, the amount of SDL payable can be computed by reference to the remuneration paid or payable. If the employer does not pay and is not liable to pay remuneration to the employee on account of his employment during the period of leave, then no SDL is payable.

Regulation 3 of the Skills Development Levy Regulations requires every employer liable to pay SDL for any month to compute and pay the SDL within 14 days after the end of that month.

Employers can pay SDL via the following options:

Payment Mode
CPF EZPay. You will be able to use the SDL auto computation feature to compute your employee’s SDL payable based on the remuneration information. This feature can also be used to pay SDL for your foreign employees. For more details, please refer to Section 7 – Auto-computation of Skills Development Levy (SDL) via CPF EZPay.	Payment made via CPF Board takes approximately two months for the transaction to be reflected in SSG’s records.
Employers with only foreign employees can make payment through E-Payment service at the SDL website.	Payments made via the SDL website will take up to four days to be reflected in SSG’s records.
Alternatively, employers can pay directly to SSG either by issuing a crossed cheque payable to ‘Skills Development Fund’ or direct credit into our bank account. Details such as Organisation’s name, period of payment, contact person, contact address should be provided together with a SDL Return Form.	Cheque payments will take up to two weeks to be reflected in SSG’s records.

An employer who has difficulty paying the SDL arrears in one lump sum may submit your request for instalment payments through SSG Feedback Portal. Information required by SSG includes the amount of SDL arrears, the reasons for the employer’s inability to pay in one lump sum and the number of instalments required. SSG will process the request and respond to the employer on the instalment plan.

Employers have to make a back-payment for the whole period that they have not been paying or have been underpaying. They may make a lump sum payment to the CPF Board or SSG immediately.

Employer making the lump sum payment to SSG should also ensure that the SDL Return Form is attached to the cheque before sending it.

The Skills Development Levy Regulations made under the Skills Development Levy Act 1979 provides for the imposition of a late payment penalty at the rate of 10% per annum of the amount outstanding.

Under the Skills Development Levy Regulations made under the Skills Development Levy Act 1979, every employer liable to pay SDL shall prepare and keep in safe custody a register containing, in respect of every employee, the following details:

Employee’s full name, gender, age, address, identity card number, nature of employment, rate and amount of remuneration, date of commencement and cessation of employment, and such other records for SSG to ascertain the levy payable by such employer.

SSG may also request for records such as the CPF Board’s Record of Payment (Form 90/90A) as documentary evidence of SDL payment.

By virtue of Section 11(1)(b) of the Skills Development Levy Act 1979, any person who negligently or without reasonable excuse gives any false information in relation to any matter affecting his own or any other person’s liability to pay SDL shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a penalty equal to the amount of the SDL due and unpaid and to a fine not exceeding $2,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Under Section 16 of the Skills Development Levy Act 1979, any person who at any time hinders or obstructs the Agency or any officer, employee or agent of the Agency acting in the discharge of its or his duties under the SDL Act or any regulations made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

SDL system is a one stop online service which enables employers to transact with SSG on SDL. Services available are:

Maintain Company profile E-payment for SDL View past SDL payment transaction Submit SDL E-Refund requests Submit E-Declaration on non-liability of SDL Compute SDL with online SDL calculator Download SDL forms/templates

For entities with UEN, you will be able to access the SDL system using Singpass, which is a national authentication system that provides residents with easy and secure access to a myriad of government and private sector services online. To access the SDL system, your organisation’s Corppass Administrator will need to assign users with SSG-WSG e-Service role of “SDL Representative” via Corppass. For more details on Corppass, please refer to www.corppass.gov.sg.

For entities without UEN, a letter which contains SDL Entity Number and Company Reference Number will be sent to employers for one-time registration of the company in the SDL system. Company Reference Number will expire after 90 days from the date of letter sent to the employers. Once expired, employers will be required to reset the Company Reference Number through SDL system. A letter containing SDL Entity Number and new Company Reference Number will be sent within 7 days upon request. For system instructions, please refer to the SDL System User Guide.

An organisation may appoint different individuals to act on its behalf for different business-related transactions in SDL system. In this case, Singpass is used to authenticate the individual at the point of on-line transaction with various Government online services. This authenticated individual is then allowed to transact on behalf of his organisation after completing the authorisation process. This authentication and authorisation process allow for clear accountability.

Authorised users are required to maintain updated company information on behalf of employers to facilitate receipt of future correspondences from SSG.

Employers are encouraged to pay SDL through CPF Board who is the authorised collection agency for SDL. Please refer to FAQ 5.2 for more details.

The SDL system’s e-payment service is to facilitate payment by employers with only foreign employees or for one-time / adhoc payment of outstanding SDL.

For employers who make payment through the SDL system using Credit Card and ENets Direct Debit, they can choose to pay outstanding SDL liability either:

By providing breakdown of payment amount by specific month; OR    Based on the amount indicated in the SDL system or indicate the amount they want to pay.

Employers are required to login to SDL system to view past SDL payment transactions under Payment History tab. For payments made directly to SSG, employers can also retrieve online receipts at their convenience.

Employers can submit a refund request through the SDL system’s E-Refund module. Please refer Section 8 – SDL Refund Procedures for more details on the procedure and supporting documents. For system instructions, please refer to the SDL System User Guide on the E-Refund module.

Employers can submit online declaration through the SDL system’s E-Declaration module. This e-service allows employers the convenience to perform the following functions:

Create online declaration on non-liability of SDL for their employees up till 31 December of the current year    Renew submitted declaration records – only available for expired declaration records made in the prior year    Extend submitted declaration records – only available for non-expired declaration records which require extension for the remaining period up to 31 December of the current year    Search and amend declaration records

 

Please refer Section 9 – Declaration on Non-liability of SDL for more details on the procedure and supporting documents. For system instructions, please refer to the SDL System User Guide on the E-Declaration module.

The cause may be one of the following reasons as the SDL website cannot be accessed via multiple browser tabs or windows

SDL website is opened in either a new browser tab or a new browser window while it is still open elsewhere    The user had closed the previous tab or browser without logging out and are attempting to login again

 

Please close all browsers, wait for at least 30 minutes, then re-open the browser and login again.

This may be due to a previous payment that was not completed or was cancelled while trying to make payment via eNets. In such a case, the payment can only be made the next day after 11:30 am.

Employers can make electronic payment for their employees’ SDL along with their CPF contributions via CPF EZPay. Employers who contribute SDL via CPF EZPay, their SDL payable will be automatically computed and reflected for their local employees in the relevant month based on the employee’s remuneration declared.

 

For foreign employees, employers can access SSG’s SDL online calculator for calculation on the SDL contribution and indicate the lump sum payment under the “Skills Development Levy (SDL) - For foreign employees” section in the same e-Submit transaction.

 

The bonus pay-outs or allowances should be added to the monthly salary and employers should use the total sum to determine the SDL for their employees. For example, if the employee's salary for Dec 2014 is $3,000 and the bonus paid in Dec 2014 is $1,000, SDL should be computed based on $4,000 ($3,000 +$1,000). SDL payable is $10 ($4,000 x 0.25%).

We strongly encourage the use of the auto-computation feature which improves your convenience in making SDL contributions.

During the online submission, employers can edit the “SDL To be Paid” field or set the SDL payable option to “No” for selective employees who are not required to make SDL contribution under the SDL Regulations. Please note that employers are required to submit non-liability declarations directly to SSG for these employees through the SDL system's E-Declaration module. Please refer to Section 9 - Declaration on Non-liability of SDL for more details on the procedure and supporting documents.

Employers should make back-payments of SDL directly to SSG through our SDL e-Service feature by clicking on the e-Service tab on the SDL website.

However, if you make back-payments for SDL via CPF EZPay, the system can auto compute the SDL payable based on the Month Paid For indicated (for relevant month from October 2008 onwards only).

For employees whom SDL is not payable, please select “No” at the “SDL payable” field during your CPF submission (see picture below).

 

Employers can access the user guide on the use of the auto-computation feature. Please click here for more information on CPF e-submission service. For technical assistance, please contact CPF Board at 6220 2340 or write to us at cpf.gov.sg/writetous.

To determine if SDL is payable for your employees or other general enquiries on SDL matters, please contact SSG at our hotline 6785 5785 or contact us through our SSG Feedback Portal.

You should indicate the actual amount payable under the “Skills Development Levy (SDL) – For foreign employees” field when submitting the details. CPF EZPay will sum up the total SDL amount payable (for both your local and foreign employees) and the final amount will be rounded down to the nearest dollar at confirmation and payment page.

 

To request for refund, you may login to the SDL system and submit the refund request via E-Refund module. For such request, employers are required to indicate the period and amount in which the refunds are sought and upload the following supporting documents in order for SSG to process the refund.

Application for Interbank Giro Form* (This is a direct credit authorisation form to authorise SSG to credit refund amount to your organisation’s designated bank account. Employers who have previously submitted the form need not resubmit).    SDL payment receipt(s) (such as Form CPF 90 and 90A)    Payroll Report of all the employees (including foreign employees)

 

Once the refund request has been submitted, employers can search and view the status via the E-Refund module. A refund request with “Submitted” status can still be amended or withdrawn.

You may also wish to refer to the SDL System User Guide on the E-Refund module for the detailed system instructions.

*Note: The original Giro form must be duly completed and forwarded to the following address: 
Corporate Services Division 
1 Paya Lebar Link 
#08-08, Paya Lebar Quarter 2 
Singapore 408533

Yes. SSG is moving towards electronic submission. From 1 September 2015 onwards, all refund requests should be submitted via the SDL system.

Yes. Employers should download the payroll register template and submit the payroll records accordingly to reduce the processing time for the refund request.

Employers can login to the SDL system to search and view the status of the refund request using the refund reference number via E-Refund module.

To encourage electronic payments, the preferred mode of refund is to credit the amount to your organisation’s bank account. Alternatively, on a case by case basis, you may request refund to be made via cheque.  Please provide the name of cheque recipient (organisation’s name) and the address to forward the cheque under the reason/remark field during the submission of refund request via SDL system’s E-Refund module.

The employer’s declaration is for employers to notify SSG that you did not or will not pay SDL for the following employees:

employee who was or is a domestic servant, gardener or chauffeur during the specified period of non-payment of SDL.    employee who was or will be overseas and rendering services wholly outside Singapore during the specified period of non-payment of SDL.

To submit the declaration on non-liability for your employees, you may login to the SDL system and select E-Declaration module. Employers have the options (which can be found in the E-Declaration module) to submit the declaration individually or by batch.

Employers are required to indicate the employee’s details, salary amount, declaration period (which can only be made up till 31 December of the current year) and reason of the declaration. Employers are encouraged to upload the following supporting documents via the SDL system during the online declaration, where applicable.

Employment contracts Work-passes Documents showing the period of employee’s overseas posting Salary slips Other documents that may be relevant to support the declaration on non-liability of SDL

 

You may also refer to the SDL System User Guide on the E-Declaration module for the detailed system instructions.

Extension of the non-liability is only applicable for existing declaration records in the SDL system that have yet to expire. Please use the “Extend Declaration” function available in the E-Declaration module to extend the declaration, which can be made up till 31 December of the current year.

For subsequent annual declaration for the same employee (if applicable), please use the “Renew Declaration” function available in the E-Declaration module to renew the declaration in the beginning of each calendar year. This is only applicable for expired declarations made in the prior year.

You may also refer to the SDL System User Guide on the E-Declaration module for the detailed system instructions.

Employers can login to the SDL system to search and view submitted declaration records via the E-Declaration module.

Employers are allowed to make amendments to the salary amount and declaration period of existing declaration records of your employees that have yet to expire. You may login to the SDL system to search and amend submitted declaration records via the E-Declaration module.

Yes, SSG is moving towards electronic submission. From 1 September 2015 onwards, all declaration on non-liability should be submitted via the SDL system.

Employers are required to inform SSG once you are aware of the non-liability of SDL for your employees.

For further enquiries, you can submit your queries through SSG Feedback Portal or call our customer service officer at 6785 5785.

The cause may be any one of the following reasons:

Unexpected technical issue. Network issue.

 

Please contact SSG support team for further assistance.