CPF Withdrawals

CPF withdrawals are the circumstances in which a Singapore Central Provident Fund (CPF) member may take CPF savings out as cash rather than using them through CPF schemes for housing, healthcare or monthly retirement payouts. The main routes are a withdrawal from age 55 of savings above the member's retirement sum (or up to S$5,000), a withdrawal on medical grounds such as reduced life expectancy, and the closure of the account after a member stops being a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident. Monthly retirement income from the Retirement Account is a separate mechanism covered in cpf life.

What happens at age 55

A CPF member's Retirement Account (RA) is created on the member's 55th birthday. Savings are transferred into the RA up to the Full Retirement Sum (FRS), first from the Special Account (SA) and then from the Ordinary Account (OA). The member's Special Account is then closed, and any SA savings left over are moved to the OA (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

The SA closure at 55 is a recent rule. On 19 January 2025, the Special Accounts of approximately 1.4 million members already aged 55 and above were closed; their SA savings went to the RA up to their cohort FRS, with the remainder moved to the OA, which earns 2.5% a year and can be withdrawn (CPF Board, 19 Jan 2025). The same set of changes raised the Enhanced Retirement Sum from three to four times the Basic Retirement Sum from 1 January 2025.

The retirement sums are cohort-specific and fixed when a member turns 55. For members turning 55 in 2026, the Basic, Full and Enhanced Retirement Sums are S$110,200, S$220,400 and S$440,800, as tracked in annual rates.

How much can be withdrawn from 55

From age 55, a CPF member can withdraw Ordinary Account savings above the Full Retirement Sum once the FRS has been set aside in the Retirement Account. A member whose savings fall short of the FRS can still set aside up to S$5,000 in the OA and withdraw it; the rest goes to the RA (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

A member who owns property can use the property to set aside up to half of the FRS, which means keeping only the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS) in cash in the RA and withdrawing savings above the BRS. If the property is later sold, the amount withdrawn under this pledge, plus accrued interest, must be refunded to restore the RA to the FRS (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

CPF Board has publicly rejected the claim that members cannot withdraw anything unless they meet the FRS and the Basic Healthcare Sum: the S$5,000 and above-FRS rules apply regardless, and the Basic Healthcare Sum does not affect retirement withdrawals (CPF Board, Dec 2019).

Online withdrawals are subject to a default daily withdrawal limit of S$2,000, which a member can raise to a maximum of S$50,000; larger amounts require a CPF Service Centre visit (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

Withdrawal on medical grounds

A CPF member may withdraw CPF savings before the normal retirement rules allow if an accredited doctor certifies one of three conditions: illness has severely reduced the member's life expectancy, the member is permanently unfit for any form of employment, or the member permanently lacks mental capacity as defined in the Mental Capacity Act (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

The certifying doctor must be from a public hospital or polyclinic, or be a specialist; otherwise CPF Board requires an independent assessment from its own panel. The medical institution, not the member, submits the Medical Assessment Report directly to CPF Board within 90 days of the application. The amount that can be withdrawn depends on the extent of the reduced life expectancy and the member's balances: it can be S$5,000 or more, excludes MediSave savings and Retirement Sum Topping-Up Scheme monies, and the member may still have to set aside a reduced retirement sum for monthly payouts (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

Closing the account after leaving Singapore

A CPF member who is no longer a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident can close the CPF account and transfer the savings to a bank account. For members who renounced from 1 April 2024, the account may be closed once the renunciation is complete; if the member does not act, the account is closed automatically in the following month. Accounts of members who renounced before 1 April 2024 were closed automatically in April 2024 (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026).

After closure, the remaining savings stop earning normal CPF interest and instead receive a concessionary rate similar to commercial bank interest until 31 March 2027. Participation in CPF LIFE, MediShield Life, CPF investments and Discounted Singtel Shares ends on closure. CPF Board gives an average processing time of about 12 weeks for a closure application (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). CPF Board describes this closure route only for members who are no longer Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents.