SINGAPORE - The Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board recovered about $516 million in CPF arrears in 2015, benefiting over 360,000 employees.
The CPF arrears recovered were from underpayment, non-payment and late payment of CPF contributions by employers, the CPF Board said in a statement on Wednesday (June 1).
Of the total amount recovered, $15.2 million were from cases of underpayment or non-payment which the CPF Board had recovered from 1,840 employers. This benefited 14,708 employees.
One of the cases, which had one of the highest amounts of CPF arrears recovered, was uncovered through a complaint on non-payment of CPF contributions lodged by a driver from a logistics company.
Investigations by the CPF Board showed that the company had wrongly classified its drivers under a contract for service and hence, did not pay them CPF contributions.
After reviewing relevant facts of the case, it concluded that the drivers were in fact working as employees of the company.
About $2 million in CPF arrears over eight years for 70 drivers were recovered, helping them build up their CPF savings to meet their retirement, housing and healthcare needs, the CPF Board said.
The remaining $500.8 million recovered were late CPF contributions from an average of about 5,600 employers each month in 2015. Most of the late payments were recovered within a month.
The CPF Board said its timely detection and follow-up enforcement actions assisted more than 353,000 workers in receiving their due CPF.
CPF Board's group director of employer collections and enforcement Ng Hock Keong said: "To facilitate the timely payment of CPF contributions, we are constantly improving the payment process for employers. More than eight in 10 employers are submitting their contributions to us electronically.
"We have also recently introduced the new CPF e-Submit@mobile to enable employers of small companies to submit their CPF contributions quickly and easily via their mobile devices."
CPF e-Submit@mobile allows employers with 10 or fewer employees to submit their CPF contributions on their mobile devices, with secure payment options via e-NETS or OCBC ATMs.
The CPF Board said there were 36 convictions for non-payment and underpayment of CPF, and 237 convictions for late payment last year.
All convicted employers were fined and ordered to pay the CPF arrears by the State Court.
Employers are reminded of their CPF obligations to their local employees. Workers should also check their CPF accounts via the CPF website regularly to ensure that their employers have made the correct CPF contributions.
To report non-payment or underpayment of CPF contributions, or non-compliance with the Employment Act, members of the public can call 1800-221-9922 or email workright@mom.gov.sg. All information provided will be kept strictly confidential.
