The Employee Provident Fund, which offers financial security to Indian people working in the organised sector, is managed by the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), a statutory organisation in India.
The Provident Fund is a savings scheme that relies on contributions from both employers and employees to build a financial reserve for post-retirement expenses. The employee may access or withdraw the established corpus, subject to particular Provident Fund withdrawal rules.
Provident Fund withdrawal rules:
PF is meant to be withdrawn once a person retires. Individuals can, however, take partial withdrawals from their PF accounts before maturity under specific circumstances. The following circumstances permit an individual to withdraw the money early.
In case of unemployment
A person having a PF account may withdraw up to 75% of the total accrued money if they become unemployed and have been out of work for more than one month. The account holder may also withdraw the last 25% under this provision if the period of unemployment exceeds two months.
Paying for higher studies
Individuals can withdraw 50% of their EPF accounts' total employee contributions to cover post-secondary education costs for themselves or their children. The funds will be transferrable after making contributions to the EPF account for a minimum of 7 years.
Marriage
It has recently come to light that individuals can take 50% of their employee shares to cover marriage expenses. The bride and groom must be either the subject of the proceeding or the son, daughter, brother, or sister of the account holder. However, you can't take use of this clause until you've paid PF payments for seven years.
For people with disabilities
According to the PF withdrawal regulations 2023, holders of specially-abled accounts are allowed to withdraw 6 months' worth of basic pay and dearness allowance, or employee share with interest (whichever is smaller), in order to pay for equipment. This decision was made in an effort to ease the possible financial burden that purchasers of expensive equipment would experience.
Medical needs
A PF or EPF account holder may also withdraw money from their EPF account to pay for emergency medical care for a variety of conditions. This facility allows both self-use and paying for the care of close family members. The lower of the employee share plus interest, a dearness allowance, or six months' worth of basic salary may be withdrawn.
Settle outstanding debt
To pay their housing loan EMIs, debtors can withdraw their whole employee and employer payments, plus interest, or 36 months of their basic salary plus a dearness allowance. Nevertheless, you can use this option only after contributing to your EPF account for at least ten years.
To purchase a house or a piece of land
The account holder is permitted to make an early withdrawal in compliance with the PF withdrawal rules in order to purchase vacant property or prefabricated houses.
For home renovation
Withdrawals for home renovations are permitted under the new Provident Fund laws, but only up to the lesser of the employee's portion with interest and 12 months' worth of basic salary plus Dearness Allowance. The owner of the PF account, his or her spouse, or both of them may be the owners of the residential property. A person can utilize this facility twice: the first time is when the residential property is finished after five years, and the second time is after ten years. Account holders are also entitled to take up to 90% of the accumulated money after the age of 54 or one year before retirement under the amended EPF withdrawal requirements.
