According to EPF regulations, employees are mandated to contribute 12% of their basic pay each month to the EPF fund, with employers matching this contribution to employees' PF accounts. The amount deposited in the EPF accounts earns annual interest. Complete withdrawal from the EPF account is permitted only after retirement, not during employment, while partial withdrawals can be made under various circumstances such as medical emergencies, marriage, home loan repayments, and more.
In the event of retirement, individuals can withdraw money from their EPF account but not while still employed. The EPFO allows for pre-retirement withdrawals, permitting individuals aged 54 years or older to withdraw up to 90% of the EPF corpus one year before retirement. Additionally, if one faces unemployment due to retrenchment, they can withdraw up to 75% of their EPF corpus after one month of being unemployed, with the remaining 25% transferred to a new EPF account upon securing new employment.
Tax exemption on EPF corpus withdrawal is granted if the employee has been contributing consistently for a minimum of five years. Tax is deducted at source on premature withdrawals; however, no tax is deducted if the entire withdrawal amount is less than Rs 50,000. The deduction rates are 10% with PAN submission and 30% plus tax without PAN. To facilitate easy access, individuals can check their EPF status online through the EPFO portal if their UAN and Aadhar are linked and approved by their employer. To initiate a claim, individuals must first declare their unemployment status and then access the official UAN portal, log in securely using their UAN and password, verify their KYC details, and select the appropriate claim type before proceeding with the online claim process.