Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Public Provident Fund (PPF) are two long-term funding devices that assist in saving on revenue tax. The magnificence of those devices lies of their gradual, regular and safe nature. It is essential for working people to make the most of these choices, as small investments over a time period lead to a giant corpus by retirement time. But folks usually get confused between the 2 and might have assist in deciding clearly which of those is suited greatest for them. Let’s take a better look to grasp the potential advantages of the 2 choices.
What is PPF?
A statutory scheme by the central authorities, it was launched in India in 1968 with an intention to mobilise small financial savings and supply old-age revenue safety to self-employed people from unorganised sectors. It provides a horny fee of curiosity and returns on the quantity invested.
What is EPF?
It is a retirement profit scheme for salaried staff. In it, each the worker and the employer contribute 12 per cent of the fundamental wage each month to the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This proportion is pre-set by the federal government. And the withdrawal of EPF quantity after 5 years of steady service is exempt from tax. Individuals may also switch their EPF account from one firm to a different after they change jobs.
What are the components that distinguish PPF from EPF?
Return on funding
The present fee of return for an EPF account is 8.5 per cent yearly, whereas it’s 7.1 per cent each year for PPF.
Investment tenure
PPF comes with a lock-in interval of 15 years, that means the quantity deposited could be withdrawn on maturity after 15 years. If an investor desires to proceed with the scheme with out withdrawing the cash simply then, he/she will be able to prolong the interval in batches of 5 years for a limiteless variety of instances.
The quantity deposited in an EPF account could be withdrawn on the time of retirement or if the person has resigned from the job and desires to make use of the cash.
Loan possibility
Both the devices permit traders to avail the mortgage facility, with circumstances. EPF account holders can avail loans for private wants in opposition to their deposits by submitting required paperwork and assembly different standards specified by the EPFO. For PPF, a mortgage facility is on the market from the third to the sixth monetary 12 months.
Tax implications
PPF comes beneath the Exempt-Exempt-Exempt (EEE) class, that means the principal and maturity quantity, in addition to the curiosity quantity, is tax-free beneath PPF.
According to new tax guidelines, if deposits to EPF and Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) by an worker exceed Rs 2.5 lakh in a monetary 12 months, then the curiosity earned on the quantity exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh will probably be taxed for the worker.
Depending on the above components, EPF seems to be barely extra useful to a contributor due to the next causes:
- EPF has contributions from the employer however they aren’t accessible within the PPF scheme.
- An EPF holder can withdraw cash for private wants after a a lot shorter time restrict, whereas an individual can not accomplish that in PPF till the completion of the 15-year lock-in interval.