18 January 2012

In the parliamentary sitting on 16 January 2012, the Minister of State for Finance, Ms Josephine Teo was queried on the rationale for withdrawing the Working Mother’s Child Relief for a working mother in respect of her son who has to disrupt his studies to enlist for National Service (NS), and whether the Ministry will consider granting tax relief for working mothers whose sons enlist for National Service.

The Working Mother’s Child Relief (WMCR) is a gesture to recognise the efforts of working women in looking after their children. An eligible criteria for the relief is that the child must be financially dependent. A dependant (child) is one who does not have more than S$4,000 of annual income.

The Ministry has responded that:

• The WMCR is unrelated to NS.
• A child who has income above S$4,000 a year will not qualify as a dependant for the purpose of claiming the relief, whether he is serving NS, or working, or studying in an education institution while working part-time.
• The income threshold for the relief was only recently raised from S$2,000 to S$4,000 in Year of Assessment 2010.
• The threshold will be reviewed from time to time.

Source: Ministry of Finance