EPFO said that in the financial year 2018-19, 1.23 lakh people with hefty salary have deposited Rs 62,500 crore in their EPF account.
New Delhi. The Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has made a big disclosure on Thursday about the amount deposited in the provident fund account after announcing the benefit of tax exemption on interest earned on deposits above Rs 2.5 lakh in provident funds. EPFO said that in the financial year 2018-19, 1.23 lakh people with hefty salary have deposited Rs 62,500 crore in their EPF account. The interest tax on this amount is free. A source said that Rs 103 crore was deposited in the account of an employee who contributed the most to the EPF. Tax exemption on interest earned on deposits in EPF account for more than Rs 2.50 lakh in a financial year has been abolished in Budget 2021-22.
Sources in the revenue department said that there are 4.5 crore contributors to the Employees Provident Fund Organization, EPFO account. Of these, 1.23 lakh accounts belong to high net worth individuals, HNIs. These people deposit huge amount every month in EPF account.
More interest holders will come under the tax net
A source justifying the bringing of higher interest to the tax net, a source said that these high-income people currently have Rs 62,500 crore deposited in their PF account and the government is giving them a fixed return of 8 percent with tax exemption. is. They are getting this benefit at the expense of honest low and middle income, salaried and other taxpayers. According to sources, there is more than Rs 103 crore deposited in a person’s account. At the same time, two other such people have more than Rs 86-86 crore in their accounts.
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825 crores deposited in the account of 20 people
The accounts of the top 20 high-income people have deposits of about Rs 825 crore, while the accounts of the 100 HNIs receiving top-notch salaries have more than Rs 2,000 crore. The source said that the proposal made in the budget is to remove the abnormality among the subscribers and to curb those people of high income group who are depositing large amount to take advantage of the provision of fixed high interest rate and Honest taxpayers are earning incorrectly at the expense of money.
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Sources also said that these HNI subscribers constitute 0.27 percent of the total number of EPF account holders and their average per capita fund is Rs 5.92 crore. Hence, they are earning Rs 50.3 lakh per person annually with tax-free fixed returns. This earning is being made at the cost of the salaried class and other taxpayers. The source said that the removal of interest rebate on future contributions of Rs 2.5 lakh and above in the budget is based on the principle of equality. Removing this flaw in the system will not affect average normal EPF or GPF subscribers.
