EPFO Announces New Rule For Withdrawal Of Employees' Pension Scheme Accumulation

The retirement fund body, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), has decided to allow the withdrawal of accumulations in the Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95). The body took the decision on Monday for those subscribers who have only less than six months of service left. If you also fall under this category and want to know more details about the same, read this article.

The apex decision-making body of EPFO, Central Board of Trustees (CBT) headed by Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav at its 232nd meeting held on Monday, recommended the government to make some amendments to the EPS-95 scheme. In the amendment request, it asked the government to extend the withdrawal benefits from the respective EPF account to members who have less than six months of service left.

 As a result, EPFO decided to allow the withdrawal of accumulations in the Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95). However, the withdrawal is allowed for subscribers who have less than six months of service left.

Moving ahead, in the meeting, the board also recommended extending proportionate pensionary benefits for members who have been in the scheme for over 34 years. The motive of the recommendation is to help pensioners in getting higher pensions at the time of fixation of the retirement benefit.

As per the statement, the board has recommended enabling equitable transfer value calculation in cases of grant of exemption or cancellation of exemption from EPS-95.

The current withdrawal procedure allows EPFO subscribers with less than six months of service left to withdraw the accumulations in their employees' provident fund account only.

1. As a result of the recommendations, a redemption policy for its investments in Exchange-traded fund (ETF) units has been approved. Furthermore, the board also approved the redemption of ETF units purchased during the period calendar year 2018 for booking capital gains to be included in the earnings for calculation of the interest rate for 2022-23.

2. The CBT also cleared the 69th annual report on the functioning of the EPFO for 2021-22 which will be tabled in Parliament. Not only this, the Audited Annual Account, in respect of the EPF Scheme 1952, EPS Scheme 1995 and Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme 1976 for the year 2020-21 along with the Audit Report for placed in Parliament were also approved.

3. The board also said yes to the Information Security Policy of the EPFO and a generic policy for the purchase of IT hardware for the purpose of storage and the purchase of server database and database licenses.

4. The CBT approved 11 proposals for surrender or cancellation of exemption from the EPF Scheme.

5. A document has also been prepared at the Chintan Shivir named EPFO Vision @2047, which is a culmination of intense deliberations. The document has key strategies and initiatives which would help the EPFO match global benchmarks in providing world-class social security and social protection to all segments of society.

From October 31, 2022, EPFO has started the process of crediting interest for the 2021-22 financial year. The interest will soon start reflecting in the UAN/EPFO accounts of the beneficiaries. The organisation tweeted that the process of crediting interest is ongoing and will get reflected in accounts soon. The organisation further added that whenever the interest is credited, it will be paid in full and there will be no loss of interest.

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