✔ The Provident Fund (PF) is a savings scheme for employees in India, aimed at providing financial security to employees during retirement, unemployment, or any other financial emergency.
✔ Provident Fund (PF) registration is a simple and mandatory process for companies, where both the employee and the employer contribute a portion of the employee's salary towards the fund.
✔ The employer is responsible for registering their company and employees for PF, and for making timely contributions to the fund on behalf of their employees.
✔ Employees can also choose to make voluntary contributions to their PF account, and can withdraw their PF balance after completing a minimum service period or in certain cases of financial hardship.
Entities, employing more than 20 employees are required to register for the Provident Fund scheme and make contributions to their employees' accounts.
Both the employee and the employer contribute 12% of the employee's salary towards the Provident Fund.
The Provident Fund account earns interest on the contributions made by the employee and the employer.
Contributions made to the Provident Fund are eligible for tax benefits under section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
Employees can withdraw their Provident Fund balance after completing a minimum service period of 5 years, or in certain cases of financial hardship, such as medical emergencies, purchase of a house, etc.
The Provident Fund , meaning that it can be transferred from one company to another, allowing employees to accumulate their savings over their working years.
| 1 | Employees drawing a salary of more than Rs. 15,000 per month: Employees earning a salary of more than Rs. 15,000 per month are not covered under the EPF scheme, but may opt for coverage under the EPS scheme. | ||||
| 2 | Casual workers or contractors: Casual workers or contractors who are not in regular employment with a company are not covered under the EPF and EPS schemes. | ||||
| 3 | Members of the armed forces: Members of the armed forces are not covered under the EPF and EPS schemes, as they have separate pension schemes | ||||
| 4 | Self-employed individuals: Self-employed individuals are not covered under the EPF and EPS scheme | ||||
