In general, the amount members must refund is the principal they have withdrawn for the property (P) and the accrued interest (I), i.e. the “P+I”. If members are age 55 or above and have pledged the property to set aside their retirement sum, they must also refund the pledged amount.

Before finalising the court order, both of you should check how much each party needs to refund to their own CPF account when the property is sold, so that they can better determine how the sale proceeds may be shared.

To check the exact amount that you need to refund your CPF accounts if you sell your property, simply log in to your Home ownership dashboard and look under the “What Happens If” section.

Important note: Scenario where members are required to refund less than their P+I

However, the required CPF refund can be less than P+I if members are:

age 55 or older before 1 January 2013; and
have set aside their Full Retirement Sum (FRS) before 1 January 2013.

This is because having set aside their FRS before 1 January 2013, members are not required by law to refund the CPF savings they used to pay for their property prior to 2013. If they continued to use their CPF savings from 1 January 2013, only the principal amount used from 1 January 2013 and the accrued interest need to be refunded when they sell their property.

Example: How much needs to be refunded?

The table below shows an example of how the required refund may be calculated.

Housing usage and Pledged amount	Amount
a. P+I before 1 January 2013	$20,000
b. P+I after 1 January 2013	$30,000
c. Pledged amount	$10,000

Required refund upon disposal:

If member set aside FRS before 1 January 2013

$40,000

[b+c]

If member did not set aside FRS before 1 January 2013

$60,000 [a+b+c]

Please note that there are some scenarios that do not require a refund to the member:

the member withdrew their CPF monies upon renouncing their Singapore citizenship or Permanent Residency; or
the member had passed away.

Differences in refund obligations between you and your ex-spouse can affect how the net sale proceeds are ultimately distributed. For example, both parties may intend to split the net sale proceeds equally after the housing loan and CPF refunds are paid. But if one party needs to make a lower CPF refund, or no refund at all, the final amounts each party receives in cash and CPF may be different. Parties should also take into account any voluntary housing refunds made, as this reduced their refund obligation and could affect the distribution of the proceeds.

You should seek legal advice so that the court order properly takes the CPF refund amounts into account and the matrimonial assets (including the sale proceeds) can be divided in an equitable manner.

5 questions

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