PF Account – Big news for PF Account holders. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) may make a big change in the rules for withdrawing money from accounts. A report claims that the retirement fund body has presented a proposal, which says that EPFO members should be allowed to withdraw their entire amount or part of it once every 10 years. If this proposal is passed, then it will provide relief to more than 7 crore active EPFO members working in the organized private sector.
You will get full PF as soon as you retire
The report says that the Central Government is considering making the rules for withdrawal of money by the members after completing 10 years of service easier. This is being considered keeping in mind those people who want to retire early. In such a situation, instead of waiting till the age of 58, they can claim the entire PF amount as soon as they retire.
Till now, the entire amount could be withdrawn from EPFO only when an employee retires at the age of 58 years or remains unemployed even after two months of leaving the job. But there are many people who want to change their career at the age of 35 to 40 years or are unable to do a regular job due to some reason. In such a situation, this change will be very helpful for them.
90% fund for buying a house
At present, more than 7.4 crore people are associated with EPF and its total fund is about 25 lakh crore rupees. Recently, EPFO has allowed withdrawal of up to 90% of the amount to buy or build a house. Earlier, this exemption was available only to those who had been depositing PF for 5 consecutive years. Now this limit has been reduced to 3 years. EPFO has also increased the limit of advance amount available in emergency to 5 lakh rupees, which was earlier 1 lakh rupees.
what the experts say
Some experts associated with the matter say that frequent withdrawals can weaken the basic purpose of PF. The purpose of PF is to create a safe fund for retirement. They say that before implementing this proposal, it is important to ensure that people do not misuse the money and future savings are also maintained. Also, EPFO’s IT system will also have to be improved so that the demand for frequent withdrawals can be handled technically.