If you are employed, you must be contributing to EPFO ​​every month. Every month 12% of the employee's basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) is deducted and goes into the PF account. The same amount is contributed by the company as well. Currently, an interest of 8.25% is being given on EPF. This interest is better than the interest received on all government schemes. In such a situation, a good amount of money can be deposited by contributing to EPF for a long time. But if you want to recover the strong interest received on EPF, then you have to do one thing. Know about it here.

Know what you have to do.
According to the rules, if you want to increase your contribution to EPF, then you cannot do it directly. But you can also increase your contribution to EPF through the Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) and avail the same interest (8.25%) on your investment, which you get on EPF.

How much money can be deposited in VPF?

Any EPFO ​​member can increase his contribution to the Provident Fund through VPF. There is no limit on salary deduction in VPF. If the employee wants, he can also contribute up to 100 percent of the basic salary.

How to start investing

If you are also interested in investing in VPF, then you will have to meet the HR of your company and tell him that you want to increase your investment in PF. With the help of HR, you can also open your VPF account along with EPF. You will have to fill out a form and give it to HR regarding how much contribution of your salary you want to increase. After this, the process of your VPF account will be completed with the EPF account. After this process is completed, you can start getting money deducted from your salary in VPF.

It is necessary to deposit money for at least 5 years.

Once the investment in VPF starts, its money will also be automatically deducted from your salary every month, just like EPF. Once you choose the option of VPF, it is mandatory to deposit money in it for at least 5 years.

What are the rules for the withdrawal of money?
The interest and benefits on the VPF amount are the same as EPF, similarly, the rules for withdrawal of money are also the same as EPF. You can withdraw the entire amount of the VPF fund only after retirement. After 5 years, when its lock-in period ends, then you can withdraw a partial amount from it. For this, an online claim can be made.

Tax exemption and account transfer
If you change your job, a PF account can also be transferred like EPF. On investing in VPF, there is no tax on its interest and withdrawal amount. Therefore, it is considered an Exempt-Exempt-Exempt (E-E-E) category investment. It provides the benefit of tax exemption under section 80C of the Income Tax Act. In this fund, you can claim tax exemption of up to Rs 1.50 lakh in a financial year.

Disclaimer: This content has been sourced and edited from ZEE Business Hindi. While we have made modifications for clarity and presentation, the original content belongs to its respective authors and website. We do not claim ownership of the content.