MOM's Levy Concession: Who Actually Qualifies for the $60 Rate?

Every employer of a domestic helper in Singapore pays a monthly levy to MOM — but not every employer pays the same amount. The standard rate is $300 a month. Households that meet certain criteria pay just $60 a month instead. That's a difference of $240 a month, or nearly $2,900 a year, and in our experience a surprising number of eligible households never apply for it, simply because they assume the concession is for someone else's situation, not theirs.

The two rates, in plain terms

Every first-time helper is billed at the normal rate of $300 a month by default. The concessionary rate of $60 a month only kicks in once you've applied and MOM has confirmed your household meets one of the qualifying conditions below. It isn't backdated automatically if you qualify but never applied — so checking is worth doing even if your helper has already been with you for years.

The three ways a household can qualify

• A young child in the household. A Singapore Citizen child under 16 years old qualifies the household. If it's your own child, the concession is applied automatically from the date of birth; if it's a child you're caring for but aren't the parent of, you'll need to register them as a household member via MOM's FDW eService, with your NRICs showing a matching residential address.
• An elderly family member. A Singapore Citizen aged 67 or above living in the household qualifies it — this covers a parent, grandparent or other relative moving in with you, not just yourself or your spouse. It's automatic once you or your spouse turns 67; for anyone else, it needs the same household-member registration and matching-address step as above. A Permanent Resident aged 67+ can also qualify, but only if their spouse is a Singapore Citizen.
• A person with disabilities in the household. This applies to a Singapore Citizen, or a Permanent Resident with a Singapore Citizen parent, spouse or child, who has been certified by a Singapore-registered doctor as needing help with at least one activity of daily living (things like washing, feeding, dressing, moving around, transferring, or toileting). This route always requires active steps: household-member registration plus a recommendation letter from the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC), so it takes a little more lead time to arrange than the other two.

The concession is tied to a specific qualifying person in your household, not to your household in general — so it's worth checking against all three categories, not just the first one that comes to mind.

What if you have more than one helper, or more than one qualifying person?

The concession is granted per eligible person, capped at one helper per eligible person, up to a maximum of two helpers per household. In practice, this means a second helper only qualifies for the concessionary rate if there are two separate eligible persons in the household (for example, a young child and a separate elderly parent) — a second helper hired on top of an existing concession, without a second qualifying person, is billed at the normal subsequent-helper rate of $450 a month, not $60.

How to check and apply

Where registration is needed rather than granted automatically, it's done through MOM's FDW eService, and for the elderly (non-spouse) and PWD categories you'll need supporting documentation — matching NRIC addresses, or the AIC recommendation letter. One detail worth knowing: once approved, the lower rate is backdated only to the date you completed the required registration step, not to whenever your household first became eligible — so it's worth doing this check now rather than assuming years of missed savings will simply be refunded. It's also worth doing before your helper's Work Permit is even issued, since the concession can often be set up at the same time, but it's just as valid to register later if your household's circumstances have since changed, such as a new baby or a parent moving in.

The bottom line

If anyone in your household is under 16, 67 or older, or living with a disability that's been medically certified, it costs nothing to check whether you're due the concessionary rate — and if you are, it's $240 a month you don't need to be paying. Households caring for a family member who needs help with 3 or more activities of daily living may also want to look into AIC's Home Caregiving Grant, a separate monthly grant of $200 to $600 depending on household income. See our related guide on what hiring a helper actually costs in Singapore for the full picture on levy, salary and other upfront costs.