FAQ: SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit

SFEC aims to encourage employers to undertake enterprise and workforce transformation initiatives. It provides additional support, over and above the existing schemes, to eligible employers for their enterprise and workforce transformation efforts.

Past Budgets:

• The SFEC scheme was announced in Budget 2020.
• In Budget 2022, SFEC was expanded to benefit a larger group of employers. Requirement of a minimum employer contribution of $750 to Skills Development Levy (SDL) over the qualifying period was removed, and the deadline to claim the credit for all employers was extended to 30 June 2024.
• In Budget 2024, the validity of the SFEC for all employers was extended by 1 year till 30 June 2025.
• In Budget 2025, SFEC was further extended to second half of 2026.
• Update: SFEC will expire on 30 Nov 2026. Employers are required to submit the final claims to the respective agencies for the supportable programmes that they have successfully applied for by 30 Nov 2026.

SFEC will expire on 30 Nov 2026. Employers are required to submit the final claims to the respective agencies for the supportable programmes that they have successfully applied for by 30 Nov 2026.

With effect from 1 Dec 2026, eligible employers will be able to enjoy support under the Redesigned SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit (SFEC) administered by WSG. Please look out for subsequent announcements by WSG via their website for more information on the redesigned programme details.

Eligible employers receive a one-off credit of up to $10,000 per entity to cover up to 90% of out-of-pocket expenses (refer to Q5 for illustration) on qualifying costs for enterprise transformation programmes and workforce transformation programmes.

1. Enterprise Transformation (up to $7,000 only) – Schemes by various agencies hosted on the Business Grant Portal (BGP); and/or
2. Workforce Transformation (up to the full $10,000) – Training courses aligned to the various Industry Skills Frameworks by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), Job Redesign initiatives, and Career Conversion Programmes etc. by Workforce Singapore (WSG)

The qualifying periods and their respective eligibility criteria are shown in the table below:

Note:

• Employers qualified under SFEC (Budget 2020) can only use their SFEC on supportable schemes applied from 1 April 2020 or training courses that commenced from 1 April 2020.
• Employers qualified under SFEC Expansion (Budget 2022) can only use their SFEC on supportable schemes applied from 1 April 2022 or training courses that commenced from 1 April 2022.

• To access the list of SFEC-supportable programmes, please visit Enterprise Singapore’s website and SkillsFuture for Business page. Please refer to Annex A (attached in this FAQ) for the list or scan the QR codes (1) and (3) found on Annex A to access the websites.
• To access the list of SFEC-eligible training courses, please visit SkillsFuture Singapore’s course listing. Please check this list for updated course information to verify that the course is eligible for SFEC before course enrolment.
• Employers will have to meet the eligibility criteria of the respective SFEC-supportable programmes before they can draw down the Credit.

Here is a simplified illustration on how an employer can benefit from SFEC

i) The employer decides to send an employee for an approved SFEC-eligible training course under the Workforce Transformation programme.

This is a simplified computation which does not take into account any GST component, which is not supportable.

ii) The same employer also decides to enhance its productivity through automation and applies for the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) under the Enterprise Transformation programme.

* SFEC funding for ‘Enterprise Transformation’ programmes is capped to $7,000.

iii) This employer has utilised a total of $7,090 SFEC and has a credit balance of $2,910. As the cap for Enterprise Transformation programmes has been reached, this balance can be used on Workforce Transformation programmes.

To encourage employers to embark on both Enterprise and Workforce Transformation programmes in tandem, $3,000 of SFEC was therefore ringfenced for Workforce Transformation programmes.

To be eligible for SFEC, employers must have employed at least three Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents (SC/PR) every month over the qualifying period.

This demonstrates that entities have had stable operations and consistent employment throughout the qualifying period to be able to meaningfully utilise and benefit from SFEC and embark on enterprise and workforce transformation.

The SC/PR criterion for SFEC eligibility refers to all Singapore Citizens or Singapore PR employees drawing a salary and with CPF contribution, business owners included.

Both new and existing employees can be considered, provided they are Singapore Citizens or PRs under the company’s employment, and within the qualifying 12 months period.

The requirement to have a minimum of three SC/PR employees is to ensure that entities have a minimum scale of operations to benefit meaningfully from transformation and to allow local employees to benefit from the scheme.

Skills Development Levy (SDL) is a mandatory contribution by employers, as stipulated in the Skills Development Levy Act (Chapter 306). It was introduced on 1 October 1979 to encourage employers to upgrade their employees’ skills. SDL collections are channelled into the Skills Development Fund (SDF), which support a wide variety of skills upgrading programmes and activities. The SDL and SDF are administered by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG).

All employers are required to pay SDL. The amount of SDL payable is prescribed in Section 3 of the SDL Act. With effect from 1 October 2008, every employer is required to contribute 0.25% of the monthly remuneration of every employee on their payroll subject to:

• A minimum of $2 (for employees earning $800 or less a month)
• A maximum of $11.25 (for employees earning $4,500 or more a month)

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.

SDL constitutes the employers’ fair share of contribution towards skills development. As such, employers who default on their SDL payments are excluded from SFEC.

For more information on SDL, please visit SSG’s website.

For further clarifications on the SDL contributions, please contact SSG hotline at 6785 5785.

Employers who have qualified for SFEC will be eligible for the SFEC for the duration of the programme. No further checks on eligibility will be conducted subsequently.

There is no need to apply for SFEC. Employers that have fulfilled the eligibility criteria for SFEC have been will be informed of their eligibility by Enterprise Singapore.

Employers’ credit will be automatically used on supportable programmes that they have applied for. Please refer to Annex A for the list of supportable programmes.

Employers qualified under SFEC (Budget 2020) can only use their SFEC on supportable schemes applied from 1 April 2020 or training courses that commenced from 1 April 2020.

Employers qualified under SFEC Expansion (Budget 2022) can only use their SFEC on supportable schemes applied from 1 April 2022 or training courses that commenced from 1 April 2022.

All eligible employers for SFEC have been notified by EnterpriseSG. Employers who qualified would be able to see the $10,000 credit, when they log in to the Business Grants Portal (BGP) and SkillsFuture for Business page.

Alternatively, employers may also click here to submit an enquiry should they require clarification on their eligibility.

Yes, SFEC is open to all employers (including non-business entities) who meet the qualifying criteria.

Do note that SFEC can only be used on schemes or training courses where the base schemes or training courses are eligible to the entities.

Employers are required to submit the final claims to the respective agencies for the supportable programmes that they have successfully applied for or training courses that they have completed by 30 Nov 2026. Employers may follow the claim processes and requirements indicated by the respective agencies for the supportable programmes.

For SFEC-eligible courses, do note that payment has to be paid by, and invoiced to the employer, and not the employee. Employers may be required to submit the SFEC claims on the SkillsFuture for Business login page. For further instructions on the submission of SFEC claims, please refer to user guide published on the SkillsFuture for Business page.

Upon approval of claims for supportable programmes by the respective agencies, the corresponding SFEC will be automatically calculated and disbursed via employers’ GIRO account registered with IRAS, or PayNow Corporate on a quarterly basis.

Employers who have sent foreign employees (excluding foreign employees who hold Long Term Visit Pass+ (LTVP+)) for courses will have to submit the SFEC claims after course completion via the SkillsFuture for Business login page.

Employers who have sent Singapore Citizen/Permanent Resident employees (including foreign employees who are LTVP+) for courses will have to check with the training providers if there is a need to submit the SFEC claims after course completion via the SkillsFuture for Business login page.

For further instructions on the SFEC claims process, please refer to user guide published on the SkillsFuture for Business page.

The SFEC will be disbursed directly to eligible employers on a quarterly basis. Employers will receive an email notification to CorpPass Administrators upon successful disbursement of the credit.

SFEC disbursements are made separately from disbursements by base SFEC supportable programmes.

SFEC claims are disbursed to employers’ bank account from IRAS, with either the prefix “SFEC” (PayNow), or “SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit” (GIRO), after final claims of the base supportable programmes have been approved.

For enquiries related to SFEC disbursement, please contact Enterprise Singapore at 6898 1800 or click here to submit an enquiry.

Credit disbursement will be made to the employers’ GIRO account registered with IRAS, or PayNow which the employers have signed up linking their UEN (without suffix) to their bank account.

Company status must be ‘LIVE’ to receive the credit disbursement.

To apply for GIRO arrangement with IRAS, employers may log in to myTax portal and apply for eGIRO if the bank account is maintained with DBS/POSB, OCBC, UOB, Bank of China and Maybank. For other banks, you may print out and send the completed GIRO application form to IRAS at Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, 55 Newton Road, Revenue House, Singapore 307987. Please click here to download the GIRO application form.

To sign up for PayNow Corporate, employers can link their Unique Entity Number (UEN) issued in Singapore to their corporate bank account. Employers may register for the service via internet banking or contact their banks for assistance. Please visit www.abs.org.sg/PayNow to find out more.

• For GIRO, employers may log in to myTax portal to make changes. You may visit this website for more details.
• For PayNow, requests for changes should be made via their respective banks.

For programmes under Enterprise Transformation (e.g. EDG, MRA, PSG etc), employers may log into Business Grants Portal (BGP) to obtain the details.

For programmes under Workforce Transformation (e.g. SFEC-eligible training courses), employers may log into the SkillsFuture for Business page to obtain the details.

Employers may also scan the QR codes (2) and (3) on Annex A to access these portals.

For further enquiries on the SFEC utilisation or credit balance, please contact Enterprise Singapore at 6898 1800 or click here to submit an enquiry.

The SFEC disbursement amount computation is based on the out-of-pocket amount incurred by the employer on supportable qualifying costs when undertaking SFEC supportable programmes. The computation for the out-of-pocket amount would be: [Supportable qualifying costs – grant amount].

Employers are advised to refer to their original base grant/ letter of offer (LOF) to confirm on the supportable qualifying costs and the grant amount for their original project.

Due to the cap on SFEC utilisation under Enterprise Transformation programmes, employers will only be able to claim up to $7,000 credit. This is illustrated in an example below:

SFEC balance

To view the breakdown of the SFEC disbursements for training claims, please log in to the SkillsFuture for Business page. At the main page, select “SFEC Training claims” at the top of the page, and click on “Training Claim Details” tab.

Employers may expand the selection to view the claim amount and the trainees claimed for.

For a more detailed navigational assistance, employers may refer to the user guide.

Please allow up to a week for the system to update the status of the SFEC lines. Lines that are disbursed will be reflected as “credited”, with the corresponding date and amount. This should be reflected as an inward credit to employers’ bank account from IRAS, with either the prefix “SFEC” (PayNow), or “SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit” (GIRO).

Please note that disbursements of SFEC occur in tranches and employers may not receive the full amount of approved claim lines in a single tranche.

The SFEC disbursement notification is, by default, sent to the registered CorpPass Administrator of the entity.

To amend the distribution list, please click here.

No, upon expiry of the scheme, the unused Credit will be forfeited.