To become eligible for the EPFO pension benefit, the employees needs to contribute for at least 15 years in one EPF account without any disruption
The Employees’ Provident fund Organisation (EPFO) members are eligible for Provident Fund (PF) benefits under Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). In this EPFO benefit, an EPF account holder has to contribute 12 per cent of its basic salary in one’s EPF account while its recruiter will also deposit 12 per cent of the employee’s basic salary in their respective EPF accounts. This EPF contribution is mandatory for both employee and the employer. As per the EPFO rules, there are various EPFO benefits that an EPF account holder is eligible for but pension is one such benefit that most of the EPFO subscribers are unaware of.
Speaking on the EPFO pension benefits SEBI registered tax and investment expert Jitendra Solanki said, “To become eligible for the EPFO pension benefit, the employees needs to contribute for at least 15 years in one EPF account without any disruption. Actually, when an employee’s EPF account gets opened, he also gets and EPS account where 8.33 per cent contribution of the employer is deposited while the rest 3.67 per cent is deposited in the EPF account. So, when an employee will check one’s EPF balance, one’s EPF balance won’t be double of the employer’s contribution.”
Reminding about an important change in EPFO pension benefit rule Amit Gupta, MD at CAG Infotech — a SEBI registered tax and investment solution company said, “Earlier EPFO pension benefit was given to all employee but now it has been limited to only those employees whose monthly salary is ₹15,000 or below.” So, those employees, whose monthly take home salary is ₹15,000 or below are now eligible for EPFO pension benefits.
On when and how much pension will be given to the EPFO beneficiary Jitendra Solanki said, “EPF pension under EPS benefit is given to the EPF account holder when the beneficiary turns 58 years of age. Minimum pension that an EPS beneficiary can expect is ₹1,000.”