HR and Payroll Software in Singapore: CPF, SDL and Leave Rules to Get Right

The CPF Board's contribution rate page lists these rates for Singapore Citizens, and for Permanent Residents from their third year of PR status, with monthly wages above S$750:

• 55 and below: employer 17%, employee 20%, total 37%.
• Above 55 to 60: employer 16%, employee 18%, total 34%.
• Above 60 to 65: employer 12.5%, employee 12.5%, total 25%.
• Above 65 to 70: employer 9%, employee 7.5%, total 16.5%.
• Above 70: employer 7.5%, employee 5%, total 12.5%.

Your software also needs the details around those rates:

• Separate tables apply to Permanent Residents in their first and second year of PR status. CPF defines the first year as starting on the day of conversion, and the second as starting on the first day of the month after the first anniversary.
• Contributions are payable for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents with total wages above S$50 a month. Where wages are above S$50 but not more than S$500, there is no employee share, though the employer share is still due. Wage bands up to S$750 have their own rates in CPF's tables.
• The total contribution is rounded to the nearest dollar, with 50 cents and above rounded up. The employee share always drops the cents.

CPF splits pay into Ordinary Wages, such as monthly salary, and Additional Wages, such as an annual bonus. Two limits apply:

• Ordinary Wage ceiling: S$8,000 a month from 1 January 2026, the last of four stepped rises that began at S$6,300 in September 2023, according to CPF's Ordinary Wage ceiling article. An employee earning S$9,000 in Ordinary Wages attracts CPF on S$8,000.
• Additional Wage ceiling: S$102,000 minus the total Ordinary Wages subject to CPF for the year, applied per employee, per employer and per calendar year, as set out on CPF's page on wages that attract contributions.

The Additional Wage ceiling is where homegrown spreadsheets usually break. The software must track year-to-date Ordinary Wages subject to CPF, so that a December bonus is checked against the ceiling correctly, and it must recompute when back pay or corrections land in a later month.

CPF's SDL page sets the rules:

• SDL is payable for every employee working in Singapore, including foreign employees, on top of CPF.
• The levy is 0.25% of monthly total wages, with a minimum of S$2 for an employee earning under S$800 and a maximum of S$11.25 for one earning above S$4,500.
• The total SDL for all employees is rounded down to the nearest dollar.
• CPF Board collects SDL on behalf of the Skills and Workforce Development Agency.

Two test cases from CPF's own examples: total wages of S$2,000 give S$5 of SDL, and S$4,500 gives S$11.25.

The Ministry of Manpower sets minimum leave for employees covered by the Employment Act.

Annual leave. Under MOM's annual leave rules, an employee becomes entitled after three months of service. Entitlement is seven days in the first year, rising by one day each year to 14 days from the eighth year. For partial years, leave is pro-rated: completed months of service, divided by 12, times the entitlement. A fraction under half a day rounds down and half or more rounds up. Pro-rating applies even during probation.

Sick leave. Under MOM's sick leave rules, employees qualify after three months of service for up to 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave and 60 days of paid hospitalisation leave, where the 60 days include the 14. Full entitlement applies from six months of service, with pro-rated entitlement between three and six months. The leave must be certified by a registered medical practitioner, and the employee must inform, or try to inform, the employer within 48 hours.

These are minimums. Many employers give more, and the software should hold leave policies per employee group rather than one company-wide rule.

Run each of these through any system you are evaluating, and compare the result with CPF's own calculator:

• An employee who crosses an age band, at 55, 60, 65 or 70, during the year. Confirm the new rate starts in the month CPF's rules specify.
• A Permanent Resident moving from the second-year table to the third-year table.
• A December bonus for an employee whose Ordinary Wages sat at the ceiling for most of the year.
• A new hire who joins mid-month and resigns in their fourth month, for both leave pro-rating and final pay.
• A foreign employee: SDL applies, CPF does not.
• Wages in the S$50 to S$750 range, where the shares differ from the standard table.
• Rounding of CPF totals and of the SDL total across a payroll of 50 or more people.

Packaged Singapore payroll products carry the CPF tables and update them when the rules change, which is a strong reason to buy for a standard payroll. Some packaged HR products may also qualify for government grant support, so check Enterprise Singapore's current schemes before you sign.

A custom HR and payroll system earns its cost when the rules around pay are specific to your business: shift allowances and overtime across sites, rostering linked to attendance devices, several legal entities, or contractor and safety compliance tied to who can be paid for which work. If you build, put statutory rates in effective-dated configuration tables, not in code. CPF and SDL rules change, and a rate change should be a data entry with a start date, tested on staging, rather than a code release.

We have built HR systems with this kind of compliance load. A compliance and workforce HRMS we delivered for an industrial compliance client in July 2026 covers statutory registers, licences, permits to work, contractor and transport compliance, and training with QR certificates, across 84 web pages and 10 roles. WorkLens handles attendance, leave approvals, payroll and timesheets, with desktop agents for Windows and macOS. Both were built for Indian employers, so the statutory rules differ, but the effective-dated approach carries over. Our HRMS development work starts by listing your pay and leave rules before any screens are drawn.

What is the CPF Ordinary Wage ceiling in 2026?

S$8,000 a month. Ordinary Wages above that amount do not attract CPF contributions.

Do foreign employees need CPF and SDL?

SDL applies to all employees working in Singapore, including foreign employees. CPF contributions apply to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents.

How is annual leave pro-rated for a new hire?

Take the completed months of service, divide by 12 and multiply by the annual entitlement, rounding a fraction of half a day or more up to a full day.

Can payroll software apply age-band changes automatically?

It should. Store each employee's date of birth and citizenship status with effective dates, and test the switch month against CPF's calculator.

Does the 60-day hospitalisation leave come on top of the 14 days?

No. The 60 days of paid hospitalisation leave include the 14 days of paid outpatient sick leave.

Send us your pay components, leave policies and headcount, and we will tell you whether a packaged product fits or which parts need custom work. After a short discovery call we send a written scope and a fixed quote. Get in touch.