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COMPASS C1: fixed monthly salary packaging edges
C1 scores your fixed monthly salary against peers, not your total package. Here's why allowances and bonuses rarely count, and what to get in writing.
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Start with the parent map, COMPASS explained, and if you're renewing rather than applying, the firm-score layer sits in COMPASS firm scores on renewal. This companion covers the C1 packaging failure mode: the point where "S$X package" and "fixed monthly salary" get used interchangeably in a forum thread, and somebody resigns on the strength of the wrong number.
There are two salary tests, and they aren't the same one
Stage 1 is the qualifying salary, an age-banded floor, and it's a hard gate. You clear it or you don't. COMPASS C1 is a separate question: it scores how your fixed monthly salary sits against peers in the same occupation. Clearing Stage 1 doesn't automatically max out C1, and no amount of allowance folklore stacked up to lift C1 will invent a Stage 1 pass you never had.
That distinction is why an offer that looks generous can still score badly. The form asks a much narrower question than your offer letter answers.
| Packaging claim | Safer reading |
|---|---|
| "Total package S$12k" | MOM looks at the fixed monthly components first |
| "Guaranteed bonus every year" | Variable and discretionary pay usually sits outside fixed monthly |
| "Housing allowance is basically salary" | Allowances often fail the fixed-monthly test unless they're structured as fixed monthly pay |
| "SAT said 20 points so we're fine" | SAT is orientation; the fixed monthly figure that gets filed still has to match reality |
Getting you and HR onto the same number
Ask for the offer letter to separate fixed monthly pay from variable pay, allowances and RSUs, explicitly and in writing. Then confirm the exact figure HR will type into EP Online for C1, because that figure is what gets scored, not the total in the recruiter's email.
Re-run SAT only once that number is locked. Running it on verbal package maths gives you a screenshot that feels reassuring and proves nothing. Keep the screenshots of the inputs you actually used, so if the filed figure drifts you can see where it drifted.
One thing to watch at renewal: salary cuts and title drift both move C1, and they can move firm scores with it. Salary and occupation changes covers what to do when the job has quietly become a different job.
The decision rule
Fixed monthly salary is the COMPASS C1 input, not total package folklore. Get the contract line that payroll will actually pay you every month agreed before you resign overseas.
Questions, answered
- I clear the qualifying salary, so is C1 automatically fine?
- No, they're two different tests. Stage 1 is the age-banded qualifying salary floor and a hard gate you either clear or don't. C1 is a separate question that scores how your fixed monthly salary sits against peers in the same occupation, so clearing Stage 1 doesn't automatically max out C1.
- Does my housing allowance or guaranteed bonus count toward C1?
- Usually not. Allowances often fail the fixed-monthly test unless they're structured as fixed monthly pay, and variable or discretionary pay, including a bonus described as guaranteed every year, generally sits outside fixed monthly. MOM looks at the fixed monthly components first.
- My recruiter keeps quoting a total package number. Is that what gets scored?
- No. Fixed monthly salary is the COMPASS C1 input, not total package folklore, and the form asks a much narrower question than your offer letter answers. Ask for the offer letter to separate fixed monthly pay from variable pay, allowances and RSUs in writing, then confirm the exact figure HR will type into EP Online.
- The Self-Assessment Tool gave us a good score. Are we safe?
- SAT is orientation, not a guarantee, and the fixed monthly figure that actually gets filed still has to match reality. Re-run it only once that number is locked, because running it on verbal package maths gives you a screenshot that feels reassuring and proves nothing. Keep the screenshots of the inputs you used so you can spot it if the filed figure drifts.
- Can a pay cut or a title change hurt me at renewal?
- Yes. Salary cuts and title drift both move C1, and they can move firm scores with it. If the job has quietly become a different job, treat that as a COMPASS issue rather than just an HR one.
Sources & citations
Admin and policy details change. Prefer the official page when making decisions; we cite primary sources for Singapore government and statutory guidance.
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