Indranee Rajah on allotment of GSTV - U-Save rebates

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) uses data from various Government agencies to determine the eligibility of households for GST Voucher (GSTV) - U-Save rebates. This is so that Singaporeans automatically get the rebates without having to apply. However, there are “practical constraints” to keeping data updated as soon as possible, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah in Parliament on Monday (Aug 1). Due to such time lags, rebates were wrongly given to 3,100 households, making up about 0.3 per cent of all households living in HDB flats. In another 23 cases, data errors led to rebates being given even though there were no Singapore citizens in the households. Ms Indranee said recovery of the rebates is underway and MOF is working to tighten processes to ensure the latest available data is used. Responding to MPs’ questions, she also said no cases have been found of eligible households missing out on U-Save rebates as a result of system flaws.