Employees’ Provident Fund – All you need to know
The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is a savings tool for the workforce. It is a scheme managed under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
Under the EPF scheme, an employee has to pay a certain percentage of his pay and an equal amount is contributed by the employer. The employee gets a lump sum amount (which includes his own and employer’s contributions) with interest upon retirement or two months after switching jobs.
Currently (2016-17), the EPF interest rate stands at 8.65 percent. In terms of returns from a debt instrument, EPF fares better. The money is sovereign-backed and the interest earned is tax-free. In fact, it enjoys the exempt-exempt-exempt (EEE) status as
contributions are deductible from income.
If you want to know more about the EPF, here are articles that cover a range of topics like how to calculate your provident fund (PF) balance, how to check your EPF balance, benefits of linking your EPF to your Aadhaar and so on.
10 things you must know about EPF and how to calculate the PF balance
Even though a lot of us contribute towards EPF, not many of know about its inner workings. Here is a story on how the provident fund (PF) works, how the interest rate on it is calculated, the Universal Account Number, and how to avail advances against your PF balance for medical, housing, and other needs.
Five steps to activate Universal Account Number
The Universal Account Number (UAN) allows portability of PF accounts from one employer to another without having to route it through your employer. With the UAN, a member can initiate the process of closing old accounts and transferring balances.
Benefits of linking your EPF account to Aadhaar and how to do it
For those who want to transfer or withdraw their EPF money, the only thing an employee needs to ensure is that his Aadhaar number is linked to his PF account. Essentially, UAN has to be seeded with Aadhaar so as to make PF linked to it. Read on to find out the how you can seed the two and the benefits of doing so.
How to ensure with automatic transfer of PF on changing jobs
From now on a new joint merely has to furnish certain information to the new employer, who will then upload it on to the EPFO portal which automatically triggers the transfer process. This means that after switching a job, an employee need not even initiate a transfer request online.
How to calculate EPF balance and interest
The interest rate on your EPF balance is calculated on the contributions by both you and the employer.
