All we need to know about EPF & PPF
Employees’ Provident Fund(EPF) is a scheme that allows employees to save funds for retirement.
EPF
Each employee provides 12% of the employee’s basic salary and allowance with the rate of interest on EPF deposits is 8.50% p.a.
It helps in saving a huge amount of money for over a long period, Deductions are made on a monthly basis from the employee’s salary
It is compulsory for every employees with an income of less than Rs.15,000 per month to register for an EPF account
It is compulsory for companies to register for the EPF scheme if they have more than 20 employees working for them
PPF account is a long term investment scheme, a PPF account can be opened with either a Post Office or with any nationalized bank
PPF
An individual can invest a minimum amount of Rs.500 and a maximum of Rs.1,50,000
Its minimum tenure is 15 years and it also has an option to extend the account for another five years
The returns and the interest earned are not taxable under Income Tax
The current interest rate is 7.1% p.a.