THE Goods and Services Tax (GST) Voucher Fund Act came into operation in Singapore on February 1, 2013. The Singapore parliament had passed the GST Voucher Fund Act in October last year, to cushion the impact of the GST introduced in the country since 1994.

The GST Voucher Fund Act provides various rebates, thereby helping lower and middle income households with their expenses, in particular what they pay to the government in GST. The GST Voucher has three components, Cash, which helps to ease immediate expenses, Medisave, which helps the elderly with their medical expenses and and U-Save, which is a rebate to help households offset their annual GST expenses. The government has set aside SGD 3.6bn (USD2.9bn) for the first five years of the implementation of the GSTV Fund, from which payouts will be made.