CPF on Your Bonus: How the Additional Wage Ceiling Works (2026)
CPF on bonuses is capped at S$102,000 minus your ordinary wages for the year. Worked examples of how much of a bonus goes to CPF, and why high earners lose less of it.
By the MoneyBackKit SG team · Updated 16 October 2026 · 4 min read
Bonus month is a good month, until you see the payslip. A chunk of the bonus goes to CPF, and many people aren't sure how much, or why some colleagues seem to lose less of theirs. It comes down to two ceilings.
Two kinds of wages
- Ordinary wages (OW): your monthly salary and fixed allowances. CPF is charged on up to S$8,000 a month.
- Additional wages (AW): bonuses, the 13th month (AWS), commissions paid less often than monthly. CPF is charged on AW up to a yearly ceiling.
The additional wage ceiling
The AW ceiling for a year is S$102,000 minus the ordinary wages subject to CPF in that year. If your salary is S$8,000 or more a month, your OW subject to CPF is S$96,000, so only the first S$6,000 of bonuses that year attracts CPF.
Examples (age 55 and below: 20% employee, 17% employer)
| Monthly salary | Bonus | Bonus subject to CPF | Your CPF on bonus | Employer CPF on bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S$5,000 | S$10,000 | S$10,000 | S$2,000 | S$1,700 |
| S$8,000 | S$16,000 | S$6,000 | S$1,200 | S$1,020 |
| S$10,000 | S$30,000 | S$6,000 | S$1,200 | S$1,020 |
In the last case, the salary is above the OW ceiling, so only S$6,000 of the S$30,000 bonus gets CPF. The rest is paid to you in cash, and is still subject to income tax.
Things to know
- Your 20% isn't lost: it goes into your Ordinary, Special and MediSave accounts and earns interest.
- Employer CPF on the bonus is extra money on top of the bonus itself.