Here are 10 important rules about EPF withdrawal:
• The EPF account comprises contributions from the employer and the employee. However, the money in an EPF account cannot be withdrawn during employment. EPF is a long-term retirement savings scheme. The money can be withdrawn only after retirement.
• Partial withdrawal from EPF accounts is permitted during an emergency like health crisis, house purchase or construction, and higher education. Partial withdrawal is subject to limits depending on the reason. The account holder can request online for partial withdrawal.
• Although the EPF corpus can be withdrawn after retirement, early retirement is not considered until the person reaches 55 years. EPFO allows withdrawal of 90 per cent of the EPF corpus one year before retirement, provided the person is not less than 54 years.
• The EPF corpus can be withdrawn if a person faces unemployment before retirement due to lock-down or retrenchment.
• The EPF subscriber has to declare unemployment to withdraw the EPF amount.
• As per the new rule, EPFO allows withdrawal of 75 per cent of the EPF corpus after one month of unemployment. The remaining 25 per cent can be transferred to a new EPF account after gaining new employment.
• As per the old rule, 100 per cent EPF withdrawal is allowed after two months of unemployment.
• EPF corpus withdrawal is exempted from tax but under certain conditions. Tax exemption on EPF corpus is permitted only if an employee contributes to the EPF account for 5 continuous years. The EPF amount is taxable if there is a break in the contribution to the account for five continuous years. In that case, the entire EPF amount will be considered as taxable income for that financial year.
• Tax is deducted at source on premature withdrawal of the EPF corpus. However, if the entire amount is less than Rs 50,000, TDS is not applicable. Keep in mind, if an employee provides PAN with the application, the applicable TDS rate is 10 per cent. Otherwise, it is 30 per cent plus tax. Form 15H/15G is a declaration form, which states that a person's total income is not taxable and thus, TDS is avoidable.
• An employee does not have to await approval from the employer for EPF withdrawal anymore. It can be done directly from the EPFO, provided the employee's UAN and Aadhaar are linked, and the employer has approved it. EPF withdrawal status can be checked online.