The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is a government-backed retirement savings scheme for salaried employees in India’s organised private sector. Both the employee and the employer ordinarily contribute 12% of the employee’s Basic + Dearness Allowance (DA) every month. The corpus earns a sovereign-guaranteed interest (8.25% for FY 2024-25) and can be withdrawn tax-free at retirement.

Your employer sends three parallel payments to the EPFO every month:

• EPF Account No. 1 – your retirement savings pot
• EPS Account No. 10 – the Employee Pension Scheme (a defined-benefit pension)
• EDLI Account No. 21 – group life-insurance cover

At salaries up to ₹15,000, the 12% employer share automatically splits into 8.33% for EPS and 3.67% for EPF. However, the EPS slice is legally capped at ₹1,250/month. Once your Basic pay crosses ₹15k, every rupee above that cap flows entirely to your EPF. This is where most online calculators go wrong—they keep using 3.67% even beyond the cap, grossly under-stating your corpus.

Step-by-step formula (no wage cap applied, Basic = B):

• Employee PF = 0.12 × B
• Employer EPS = 0.0833 × MIN(B, 15,000) (capped at ₹1,250)
• Employer PF = 0.12 × B – Employer EPS
• Monthly EPF credit = Employee PF + Employer PF

Worked example – Basic salary ₹50,000

Why most calculators under-state your corpus: They keep allocating only 3.67% (₹1,835) of a ₹50k salary to Employer PF. In reality you receive ₹4,750. That extra ₹2,915/month, compounded at 8.25% for 35 years, is worth roughly ₹60 lakh more at retirement!

Assuming a constant monthly credit C and a steady annual rate r, the future value after N months is:

Corpus = C × [(1 + r/12)^N − 1] ÷ (r/12) × (1 + r/12)

For the example above (C=₹10,750, r=8.25%, N=420 months), the corpus at age 60 is about ₹2.6 crore.

Enter your monthly Basic + DA. Choose whether to use a fixed base of ₹14,000 or base the calculation on your actual salary. Then fill in your current age, retirement age and the prevailing EPF rate. The tool iterates month-by-month, applying the correct contribution split and monthly compounding to show:

• Employee contribution
• Employer PF + EPS contributions
• Year-wise and final corpus

Benefits

• Government-backed, virtually risk-free returns
• Employee contribution eligible under 80C; interest & maturity tax-free (subject to current limits)
• Lump-sum withdrawal possible at retirement
• Automatic life-insurance cover via EDLI
• Partial withdrawals permitted for specified needs (illness, housing, education, etc.)

Limitations

• Mandatory for salaries ≤ ₹15k – limited flexibility for low-income employees
• Interest rate reset annually – may drift lower over decades
• Not ideal for short-term goals; money is relatively illiquid
• Some administrative friction when transferring or resolving grievances

Full withdrawal is allowed on retirement or after being unemployed for ≥ 2 months. Partial withdrawals are permitted for specific purposes such as medical emergencies, home purchase, or education.

Once every financial year, announced by the EPFO in consultation with the Ministry of Finance. The rate for FY 2024-25 is 8.25%.

Log in to the EPF Member Portal using your UAN, submit an Online Transfer Claim, and have it verified by either your previous or current employer.

It remains ₹1,250 only. Any amount beyond that goes straight to your EPF.

Yes. Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) lets you add up to 100% of Basic + DA. Your employer, however, is not obliged to match the excess.

Calculations use current EPF rules and the FY 2024-25 interest rate (8.25%). Future rates, salary growth and statutory changes will affect actual outcomes. Always verify your personal contribution split with your payroll/HR department.