Following Singapore’s Budget 2015 announcement on 23 February, Achieve Group CEO Joshua Yim weighs in on the biggest takeaways and how the measures will impact businesses:

“Apart from the two-year extension of the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS) and the internationalisation scheme by IE Singapore, some of the new measures for businesses translates to higher operating costs for companies.

In particular, the raising of CPF salary ceiling from $5,000 to $6,000 is a big blow to some companies that hire a lot of highly skilled executives. While the intention is to help employees have a better nest egg for retirement, it significantly increases labour costs in an already challenging business environment.

The reduction of the income tax rebate cap from $30,000 to $20,000 may be a fairly small issue but mid-sized companies will now have to fork out an extra $10,000. 
The additional 0.5% to 1% in employer CPF contribution rates for older workers is also very minute but it still adds to the rising business costs.

While the business community is grateful for the extension of the WCS, the co-funding is now 20%, down from 40%. The foreign worker levy has been deferred but it will still eventually need to be paid. And the PIC Bonus has not been extended this time round.

In conclusion, business owners would have found it easier to operate in 2013 and 2014, as doing business in Singapore will now be harder from 2015 onwards.”