EPF calculator

No. Your 12% of Basic + DA goes in whole, but the employer's matching 12% is split by the schemes framed under the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952: 8.33% is diverted to the Employees' Pension Scheme, and whatever is left of the employer's 12% reaches your provident fund. The EPS share is computed on at most ₹15,000 of Basic, so it is capped at ₹1,250 a month — which means the split is 8.33 / 3.67 only while Basic is at or below ₹15,000. Above that the pension slice stays frozen at ₹1,250 and the rest of the employer's 12% lands in the fund: on ₹40,000 of Basic the employer pays ₹4,800, of which ₹1,250 goes to EPS and ₹3,550 to your provident fund. This projection is deliberately conservative and credits the employer's fund share at a flat 3.67% throughout, so it compounds 15.67% of Basic + DA and understates the balance for anyone earning above the ceiling. The EPS slice buys a pension under the EPS formula rather than a balance you can withdraw, which is why the calculator reports it separately.

It matters more than any other input here. EPF is a percentage of Basic + DA, not of CTC, and many private employers set Basic at 30-50% of the package, which shrinks every figure on this page proportionately. Take the Basic + DA line from your payslip, not the offer letter's total. If your employer computes EPF on the ₹15,000 statutory wage ceiling rather than your full Basic, put ₹15,000 in the field — that is what is actually being credited.

Mostly, and with two named exceptions. Interest on your own contributions above ₹2.5 lakh in a financial year is taxable — that is the proviso added to sections 10(11) and 10(12) of the Income-tax Act, with Rule 9D of the Income-tax Rules requiring the account to be split into taxable and non-taxable parts; the threshold is ₹5 lakh where the employer contributes nothing. Separately, an employer's contributions above ₹7.5 lakh a year across EPF, NPS and superannuation taken together are a taxable perquisite under section 17(2)(vii). This projection is entirely pre-tax on both counts.

The balance stays yours and keeps earning until the account becomes inoperative under the scheme's rules, so check the current definition before assuming interest runs forever. Withdrawing is where it costs you: a withdrawal before five years of continuous service is taxable, and tax is deducted at source under section 192A of the Income-tax Act above the prescribed threshold, at a higher rate if you have not furnished your PAN. Transferring the account to the new employer instead preserves both the compounding this page assumes and the five-year clock, because service periods across transferred accounts are counted together.

VPF lets you contribute more than the statutory 12% of Basic — up to 100% of it — at the same declared rate, with no matching from the employer. It is the cheapest way to buy more of a government-declared debt return, which is why it appeals when rates on fixed deposits fall below it. Two limits to check first: the ₹2.5 lakh taxable-interest threshold counts your VPF alongside your normal contribution, and the money is locked to the same withdrawal rules as the rest of the fund. Raise the Basic + DA field above your actual Basic to see roughly what a top-up would build.