EPF calculator

What is EPF, in one minute?

The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is the retirement account every salaried job with 20 or more staff must offer. Each month 12% of your basic pay + dearness allowance goes in from your salary, and your employer adds 12% too. Of the employer’s share, 8.33% of up to the wage ceiling goes to the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for your pension, and the rest joins your EPF. The money earns a rate fixed every year by the EPFO and the government: 8.25% for 2025-26, ratified in June 2026, the same as the year before.

The ₹25,000 wage ceiling (from 17 September 2026)

The wage ceiling decides two things: who must be in EPF, and how much of the employer’s money goes to the pension. It was ₹15,000 from September 2014 until 17 September 2026, when the Labour Ministry raised it to ₹25,000 (notification S.O. 5109(E)). At the new ceiling:

If your basic is above ₹25,000 and your employer pays 12% of your full basic, more of their money now goes to the pension and a little less to your EPF balance; the pension grows instead. If your employer works PF out on the ceiling only, turn on PF only on ₹25,000 above.

Arun’s EPF in Kallakurichi

Arun is 30 and works in accounts at a textile firm near Kallakurichi. His basic + DA is ₹30,000 a month, his passbook shows ₹1 lakh, and he has 5 years in EPF. His basic rises about 7% a year and he plans to retire at 58.

• He puts in 12% of ₹30,000 = ₹3,600 a month.
• His employer puts in ₹3,600 too: ₹2,083 to EPS (8.33% of ₹25,000) and ₹1,517 to his EPF.
• At 8.25%, his EPF reaches about ₹1.68 crore by 58. In today’s money (5.5% inflation) that is about ₹37 lakh.
• With 33 years of service plus 2 years’ weightage, his EPS pension works out to about ₹11,800 a month from 58 (5 years at ₹15,000 and 30 at ₹25,000, ÷ 70), on top of the balance.

If Arun adds just 2% VPF (₹600 a month now), his EPF at 58 grows by about ₹15 lakh. From age 56 his own contributions pass ₹2.5 lakh a year, so a little of his interest becomes taxable. Type his numbers into the tool to see the year-by-year table.

How to use this tool

1. Type your basic + DA, your age and today’s EPF balance (from the UMANG app or the EPFO member portal).
2. That’s enough for an answer: the tool assumes retirement at 58, a 7% yearly pay rise and 8.25% interest. Turn on Change assumptions to change them or add your earlier years of service (for the pension).
3. Turn on Add VPF to see what an extra voluntary contribution does, or switch to VPF I need to reach a target.
4. Turn on Withdraw early or Old PF moving in for a home down payment or a job change.
5. Read the chart, the milestones and the year-by-year table. The comparison bars show the same money in a PPF and a bank FD.

Tax on EPF

EPF follows exempt-exempt-exempt for most people: your contribution counts towards the old-regime deduction, interest is tax-free, and the final withdrawal is tax-free after 5 years of continuous service. Two limits matter:

• The ₹2.5 lakh line: since April 2021, interest on your own contributions above ₹2.5 lakh a year (₹5 lakh where the employer adds nothing) is taxable. The tool marks the age you cross it.
• Early withdrawal: taking out your EPF before 5 years of service is taxable, with TDS of 10% above ₹50,000 (with PAN).

Withdraw or transfer?

On a job change, transfer your old EPF instead of withdrawing it. A withdrawal resets your service for tax, loses years of compounding at 8.25%, and breaks the 10 years you need for the EPS pension. Partial withdrawals for a house, marriage, education or illness are allowed, within EPFO’s limits for each.

Common mistakes

• Using your gross salary instead of basic + DA. PF never uses the full salary.
• Forgetting that the employer’s 8.33% EPS share does not appear in your EPF balance.
• Assuming the rate will stay fixed for 30 years. It has moved between 8.10% and 8.65% in the last decade.
• Withdrawing on every job change. Keep one UAN and transfer.