Every tax season, some employers ask us whether they can still claim foreign maid levy relief on their income tax. The short answer is no. The relief, known in recent years as the Foreign Domestic Worker Levy (FDWL) Relief, has been discontinued. The last Year of Assessment in which it could be claimed was YA 2024, and it no longer applies from YA 2025 onwards.

That surprises people, because the relief existed for a long time and older articles and forum posts still describe it as if it were current. If you budgeted on getting part of the levy back through your tax bill, adjust your numbers now.

The good news is that the main way to lower what you pay was never the tax relief. It is the concessionary levy administered by MOM, which reduces the monthly levy itself for households caring for young children, elderly family members or persons with disabilities. There are also levy waivers for certain periods and, for some families, a separate caregiving grant.

This guide explains what the old maid tax relief was, when and why it ended, who it affected, and the legitimate ways to reduce your levy today. We link to the official IRAS, Ministry of Finance and MOM pages throughout. We are a maid agency, not tax advisers, so for anything specific to your own tax position, check with IRAS directly.

What foreign maid levy relief was

According to IRAS’s page on the Foreign Domestic Worker Levy (FDWL) Relief, the relief was given to encourage married women to stay in the workforce. It was not a general relief for anyone who employed a helper.

The key features, as IRAS describes them, were:

Who could claim: a married woman living with her husband, who employed a helper or whose husband did, in the year before the Year of Assessment. A woman who was separated, divorced or widowed could qualify only if she had children living with her for whom she could claim child relief.
Who could not: single taxpayers and married men were not eligible.
How much: twice the total levy paid on one helper in the year before the Year of Assessment.
The cap in its final years: for YA 2022 to YA 2024, IRAS gives a maximum of $7,200 at the normal levy rate ($10,800 where that helper’s levy was at the $450 rate for second and later helpers), or $1,440 at the concessionary rate.

Those maximums follow directly from the current levy rates. Twice a year of levy at $300 a month is $7,200, twice a year at $450 a month is $10,800, and twice a year at the $60 concessionary rate is $1,440. Note that this was a relief, which reduces chargeable income, not a rebate that refunds the levy dollar for dollar. The actual tax saved depended on each claimant’s tax rate.

When and why the relief ended

The change was announced in Budget 2023. In a parliamentary reply on the Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Relief dated 23 February 2023, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Lawrence Wong, confirmed that the relief would lapse with effect from YA 2025. He added that the Government continues to provide support through the concessionary migrant domestic worker levy, which is targeted at those who need help caring for their dependants, including young children, the elderly or persons with disabilities.

IRAS’s page now states that the FDWL Relief has been discontinued with effect from YA 2025, and that the final year in which it may be claimed is YA 2024.

Because a Year of Assessment looks back at the previous calendar year, the timing works like this:

YA 2024 was the last claim, based on levy paid in 2023.
YA 2025 onwards has no FDWL Relief, so levy paid from 2024 onwards does not qualify for it.

Who the change affected

The households that felt the change were working married women, and eligible separated, divorced or widowed mothers, who employed a helper and had been claiming the relief each year. For a household paying the normal levy of $300 a month on one helper, the relief had reduced the wife’s chargeable income by up to $7,200 a year.

Households that were never eligible, such as single employers, or families where only the husband was taxable, saw no change, because they could not claim it in the first place. Households already on the concessionary levy were capped at a much smaller relief of $1,440 a year, so their loss was correspondingly smaller.

The Government’s stated focus is now support aimed at households that need help caring for dependants, delivered through the levy itself rather than the tax system. One-off Assurance Package cash payouts are a separate form of household support, not a levy discount.

The concessionary levy: the main way to pay less

MOM’s levy payment page sets the normal levy at $300 a month for the first helper and $450 a month for the second and subsequent helpers. The concessionary rate is $60 a month. For a qualifying household, that saves $240 a month on a first helper.

According to MOM’s levy concession page, you may qualify if your household includes:

A young child: a Singapore citizen below 16. If you are the parent, the concession runs from the child’s birth. If not, it runs from the date you add the child as a household member in FDW eService, so a grandchild living with you can qualify.
An elderly person: a Singapore citizen aged 67 or above, which covers you or your spouse, or another person living at the same NRIC address and listed as a household member. Some elderly permanent residents also qualify, subject to the conditions MOM sets out.
A person with disabilities: certified by a Singapore-registered doctor as needing help with at least one activity of daily living, with a recommendation letter from the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC).

The concession is limited to one helper per eligible person, and at most two helpers per household. A second concessionary helper needs two eligible persons in the household.

For a child or an elderly person, you do not need to submit a separate application. MOM applies the concession automatically once the conditions are met and the household member has been updated in FDW eService. For a person with disabilities, the AIC recommendation letter is also required. The lower rate appears within the next two levy bills and is backdated to the date the steps were completed. If it does not appear, MOM provides checking tools at go.gov.sg/check-lc-child and go.gov.sg/check-lc-elderly-pwd.

Our article on the maid levy in Singapore walks through the concession and payment process in more detail.

Other verified ways to reduce what you pay

Levy waivers. MOM’s levy waiver page allows you to apply for a waiver when your helper is on overseas leave of at least 7 consecutive days, or on hospitalisation leave issued by a Singapore-registered doctor at a local medical institution. Each type is capped at 60 calendar days per calendar year. You keep paying the levy and apply afterwards through the “Check and pay foreign worker levy” e-service, within one year of the levy bill. The waived amount is credited against your next bill.

The Home Caregiving Grant. This is separate from the levy concession. It is applied for through the Agency for Integrated Care and supports a family member who needs permanent help with three or more activities of daily living. According to AIC’s Home Caregiving Grant page, it pays up to $600 a month, depending on household income. MOM’s levy concession page may still show the older $400 figure, so check the amount with AIC. If you employ a helper to care for an elderly parent or a family member with disabilities, it is worth checking.

Avoiding penalties. Levy is due on the 17th of the following month. Late payment attracts a penalty, and if levy is unpaid for two consecutive months, MOM revokes the Work Permit the following month. Paying by GIRO is the simplest way to avoid charges you do not need to incur.

If you are hiring specifically to care for an older family member, our pages on elderly caregivers and on helping an elderly parent at home may also help you plan. For the full budget picture, see our breakdown of the cost of hiring a maid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still claim foreign maid levy relief on my income tax?

No. IRAS states that the Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Relief has been discontinued with effect from YA 2025, and that the final year in which it may be claimed is YA 2024. Since YA 2024 covered levy paid in 2023, levy paid from 2024 onwards does not qualify. The change was announced in Budget 2023.

Is there any other maid tax relief that replaced it?

The Ministry of Finance’s parliamentary reply of 23 February 2023 did not name a replacement tax relief. It pointed instead to the concessionary migrant domestic worker levy as the Government’s continuing support for households caring for young children, the elderly or persons with disabilities. That support reduces the monthly levy itself rather than your income tax. Working mothers whose children are minded by grandparents can separately check grandparent caregiver relief.

Who could claim the relief before it ended?

IRAS describes the relief as intended to encourage married women to stay in the workforce. A married woman living with her husband could claim if she or her husband employed a helper in the preceding year. A separated, divorced or widowed woman could claim only if she had children living with her for whom she could claim child relief. Single taxpayers and married men were not eligible.

How do I get the $60 concessionary levy?

Your household must include an eligible person, such as a Singapore citizen child below 16, an eligible elderly person aged 67 or above, or a certified person with disabilities. MOM applies the concession automatically once the conditions are met and the household member is updated in FDW eService. For a person with disabilities, you also need a recommendation letter from AIC. The lower rate usually appears within the next two levy bills.

Does Femme5 give tax advice?

No. We place helpers and support employers through the hiring process, but we do not give tax or financial advice. For questions about your own tax return, contact IRAS, and for levy questions, refer to MOM.

Conclusion

Foreign maid levy relief, more recently called the FDWL Relief, is no longer available. It was announced as lapsing in Budget 2023, YA 2024 was the last year it could be claimed, and it has been discontinued from YA 2025.

For most households, the support that matters today is the concessionary levy, which cuts the monthly levy from $300 to $60 for a qualifying helper, along with levy waivers for qualifying leave and, where relevant, the Home Caregiving Grant. If your household includes a young child, an elderly family member or a person with disabilities, check that the concession is being applied. Rules do change, so confirm current requirements with IRAS and MOM before relying on any figure.

If you would like to talk through the costs of hiring a helper for your household, our consultants are happy to help. You can get in touch with the Femme5 team to discuss your family’s needs, read more about how we work with employers, or explore what a good placement looks like. A short conversation now tends to prevent a longer one later.

The Femme5 Team
Maid placement specialists, Femme5 Maid Agency
Our consultants work with Singaporean and expatriate families on helper matching, contracts and MOM compliance, and we verify the regulatory guidance in our articles directly against the Ministry of Manpower’s published requirements.

Femme5 Placement Team

Written by the placement specialists at Femme5 Agency Pte Ltd (MOM Licence 19C9763), who match Singapore families with domestic helpers every day.

Foreign Maid Levy Relief: Can You Still Claim It?