National Service
Around the age of 18, every male citizen of Singapore is enlisted for National Service (NS) and undergoes two years of military training. Men who have completed their full-time NS become National Servicemen (NSmen). As a result, NSmen form the ranks of Singapore’s Operationally Ready National Servicemen (ORNS) and are required to take part in regular ORNS activities. Such employees can be called up for a maximum of 40 days of NS every year.
An employee may not be dismissed on account of being called up for NS. Employers are also required to grant NSmen a leave of absence to complete their annual NS, which will have an impact on their regular remuneration.
Note
According to the Enlistment Act, when an employee is away from work performing ORNS activities, CPF contributions are unaffected, and the full amount remains payable at the usual rate for the employee.
NSmen Payments¶
NSmen receive two types of NS pay during ORNS activities:
- Service Pay – based on the NSman’s rank and vocation for the training. It will be pro-rated based on the duration of the ORNS activity in which the employee participates.
- Make-Up Pay (MUP) – MUP is the difference between any loss in an NSman’s civilian income and their Service Pay, for the duration of their ORNS activities. The purpose of this is to ensure that they do not suffer a loss in income from participating in ORNS activities.
Note
MUP is provided only if there is an overlap between the NSman’s civilian working hours and the NS training. Any loss of income suffered outside the duration of ORNS activities will not be compensated by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) or the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
There are two payment methods for Make-Up Pay (MUP) claims to employed NSmen discussed below. For self-employed NSmen, please refer to NS Matters.
Direct Reimbursement to Employers of Claims for National Service Training (DIRECT)¶
Employers registered with the DIRECT scheme should continue paying employees their usual salaries, including basic salaries, fixed allowances, and any additional or variable payments such as overtime or commissions.
For additional or variable payments, companies should calculate the amount based on the employee’s average past variable payments before his ORNS activities. MINDEF or the MHA will reimburse companies the auto-generated MUP amounts, and if the NSmen are eligible for base NS Pay, the difference between this and the NSmen’s civilian income loss will be credited directly to the NSmen’s bank accounts.
You will be able to register for the DIRECT Scheme and update your bank account details via the Employee Payment Management eService.
Since you are continuing to pay the employee his usual salary, there are no changes required when processing payroll.
Non-Direct Reimbursement to Employees of Claims for National Service Training (NON-DIRECT)¶
Non-Direct NSmen Pay refers to NSmen Pay that is paid to an employee rather than directly to the employer. This amount is excluded from the employee’s gross salary but is still subject to CPF contributions.
Info
On 1 January 2025, an improved process for recording NSmen payments was introduced. A new item, called NSmen Pay, removes the need to create custom items and manually reduce the Basic Salary item. It replaced the previous system item (NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT)).
Using the NSmen Pay item¶
Important
To ensure that the correct payslip calculations are done, and that the IR8A reporting is accurate, the NSmen Pay system item will be usable only from 1 January 2025. You should continue using the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item if you are still processing payroll for 2024. Once you are processing the first 2025 payslip for a particular employee, you should replace the old item with the new one. Please see this paragraph below for additional guidance.
To add the NSmen Pay item:
- Go to an employee’s profile, and click on Add next to Regular Inputs.
- Select the NSmen Pay item under Income.
- Enter an amount in the Amount field.
- Click Save.
Tip
When you want to edit or delete the item, you can do so by clicking on NSmen Pay, under Regular Inputs.
Changing over from the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item to the NSmen Pay item for January 2025 payroll¶
If you were using the old item in 2024, you will get an error message instructing you to replace the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item with the NSmen Pay item. Please see the steps below to change the items on the payslip:
- Remove the NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item: Click on NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) under Regular Inputs, and click Remove.
- Remove the custom deduction item: When you used the old NSmen Pay (non-DIRECT) item, you were required to create a custom deduction item. The improved item eliminates the need to do this; therefore, you should click on the custom item, and then click Remove.
- Correct the basic salary: With the old item, you were required to also manually edit the basic salary to account for the NSmen payment. Since this is no longer required, you should click on Basic Salary under Regular Inputs, and correct the amount to the employee's salary including the NSmen pay.
- Add the NSmen Pay item: Click Add next to Regular Inputs, and select the NSmen Pay item under Income.
NSmen Leave¶
There is currently no system leave type available for National Service, but you can create a custom leave type to keep track of the days taken.
Please ensure that you do not select unpaid leave when setting up your custom NS leave item as the NSmen system item already caters for the pay changes necessary for your employee.
More information on how to create Custom Leave Types can be found here.
For more information about National Service and CPF contributions for NSmen, please refer to the MINDEF website or the CPF Board website, respectively.