EPF Interest Rate

EPF is a retirement benefits scheme under the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Act, 1952, where an employee has to pay a certain contribution towards the scheme and an equal contribution is paid by the employer as well on a month on month basis.

The Scheme is managed by Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). 

The employee gets a lump sum amount including self and employer’s contribution with interest on both, on retirement and during the service period (under certain circumstances as stipulated).

The principal amount and the accrued interest are exempt from income tax during withdrawal and thus an attractive retirement plan for the salaried class.

The Scheme covers all entities in which 20 or more employees are employed and certain entities are covered, subject to certain conditions and exemptions even if the required 20 staff criteria are not met.

Current & Historical EPF Interest Rates

The Interest rate of EPF is reviewed every year after consultation with the Ministry of Finance by EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees. The PF interest rate of 2024 is fixed at 8.15%. Provident fund Interest rates for the last five years are mentioned below:

EPF Interest Rates 2023-24

The interest rate on EPF is reviewed on a yearly basis. The EPF interest rate for the fiscal year 2023-24 is 8.15%. When the EPFO announces the interest rate for a fiscal year and the year closes, the interest rate is computed for the month-by-month closing balance and then for the entire year.

The year in which the new interest rates are published remains valid for the following fiscal year, i.e. from the year beginning on April 1st of one year to the year ending on March 31st of the following year.

Here are a few key points to remember about EPF Interest Rate:

• The interest rate of 8.15% has come into effect and will be applicable to EPF deposits.
• Even though the interest is calculated monthly, it is only deposited to the Employees’ Provident Fund account once a year on March 31st of the applicable fiscal year.
• The transferred interest is added to the next month’s balance, i.e. April’s balance, and is then used to calculate interest.
• If no contributions are made to an EPF account for 36 months in a row, the account becomes dormant or inoperative.
• Employees who have not reached retirement age might earn interest on their inactive accounts.
• Interest is not paid on funds put in retired employees’ inactive accounts.
• The interest collected on dormant accounts is taxed at the member’s slab rate.
• The employee will not receive any interest for payments made by the company to the Employees’ Pension Scheme. However, beyond the age of 58, a pension is provided out of this amount.

EPF Contribution by Employee and Employer

Depending on the entity contributing towards EPF, there are two components of the contribution namely – employee and employer contribution.

The employee contributes 12% of basic salary plus dearness allowance (DA) towards its EPF account. The employee has to contribute a lower contribution of 10% in case the entity has less than 20 employees and or if the entity is certain designated industries such as Jute, Beedi, Brick, etc.

The employer contributes a similar amount to the scheme (12% of employee’s basic salary plus DA). 8.33% of such employer contribution goes towards the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) subject to a ceiling of 1,250 per month if the salary of the employee is 15,000 or more and the rest 3.67% is added to the EPF account of the employee. The employer also contributes 0.50% towards Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) account of the employee.

Pertinent to note here, the employee can also voluntarily contribute higher than the statutory requirement of 12% and is called contribution towards Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) which is accounted separately. The VPF also provides tax free interest however the employer is not required to contribute anything to VPF if the employee chooses to opt for it.

How to Calculate PF Interest

Every month the interest rate is calculated but is deposited in the account at the end of the financial year. The interest calculation on the EPF of the employee is explained by the given example.

Basic Salary + Dearness Allowance = ₹ 30,000

Employee’s contribution towards EPF = 12% of ₹ 30,000 = ₹ 3,600

Employer’s contribution towards EPS (subject to limit of 1,250) = ₹ 1,250

Employer’s contribution towards EPF = (₹ 3,600 – ₹ 1,250) = ₹ 2,350

Total EPF contribution every month = ₹ 3,600 + ₹ 2350 = ₹ 5,950

For example, The employee provident fund interest rate for 2023-2024 is 8.15% ,the interest applicable per month. When calculating interest, is = 8.15%/12 = 0.00679166666. Again to remind, the provident fund interest will be calculated at the end of every month however the interest amount will only be credited at the end of the financial year.

Assuming the employee joined service on 1 April 2023, contributions start for the financial year 2023– 2024 from April 2022 only.

Total EPF Contribution for April = ₹ 5,950

For April Interest on the EPF contribution= Nil (No interest for the first month)

EPF account balance at the end of April = ₹ 5,950

EPF Contribution for May = ₹ 5,950

Total EPF account balance as at May = ₹ 11,900

Interest on the EPF contribution for May = ₹ 11,900 * 0.7083% = ₹ 84.29

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