Employee Provident Fund is a fund meant for the welfare of employees where 12% of the employee’s basic salary and dearness allowance is contributed to the fund account every month. A matching contribution is made by the employer. This fund balance earns 8.10% interest every year.
You can withdraw this PF balance as per the PF withdrawal rules. However, according to section 192A of the Income Tax Act, TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) will be deducted if the withdrawal amount exceeds Rs. 50,000 per financial year. Thus, you will receive only the balance amount.
However, you can make sure that there are no TDS deductions on your withdrawal amount by filling out PF form 15G if your income is below the taxable limit. To learn more on this matter, please read on.
Form 15G or EPF Form 15G is an authorised document that will ensure that there is no TDS deduction on the interest that you earn from your EPF, RD or FD in a given year. This declaration is mandatory for all individuals below 60 years of age and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs). In this article, we will cover Form 15G for PF withdrawal. You can refer to this page for more about all the scenarios where Form 15G is required.
Yes, Form 15G is mandatory if you do not want TDS to be deducted from the withdrawal amount. Section 192A of the Finance Act 2015 states that PF withdrawal will attract TDS if the withdrawal amount is more than Rs.50,000 and your employment tenure is of less than 5 years.
Keeping these above conditions in view, these are the PF withdrawal rules that will be applicable:
You can get Form 15G from EPFO’s online portal or the websites of major banks. Simply log in and search for PF Form 15G download, and you can download it to your computer or smartphone.
Furthermore, you can also visit the Income Tax Department’s official website for the same.
Here’s a sample Form 15G.
Yes, you can definitely submit Form 15G online via EPFO’s online portal. If you are wondering how to fill out Form 15G for PF withdrawal, follow the steps given below:
You are required to fill out only Part I of Form 15G for PF withdrawal. Follow these instructions to fill up the other fields in Form 15G:
6- 12. Address: Mention your address, preferably the one mentioned in the Aadhaar card along with your PIN code.
13- 14. Email id and phone number: Provide a valid email ID and your contact number for further communications.
15. (a) Whether assessed to tax under the Income-tax Act, 1961: Place a tick in the ‘’Yes’’ box if you filed an ITR in any of the last few years.
(b) If yes, latest assessment year for which assessed: Look at the assessment year from the latest ITR and mention the same.
16.Estimated income for which this declaration is made: In this field, mention the estimated withdrawal amount.
17. Estimated total income of the P.Y. in which income mentioned in column 16 to be included: Mention the total estimated income of the financial year in which you plan to withdraw the PF amount.
18. Details of Form No. 15G other than this form filed during the previous year, if any: If you have filed another Form 15G anytime during the financial year, then mention the total number of Form 15Gs filled and the total of income amount of all these forms, i.e. total up the amount in filed (16) of all the forms.
19. Details of income for which the declaration is filed: In the last part you need to provide the following income details:
After filling in all the fields, cross-check all the details to ensure there is no error.
No, for a PF withdrawal of less than Rs.50,000, Form 15G is not mandatory.
Interest on EPF contributions of up to Rs.2.5 lakh per year is tax-free. Any interest amount on contributions above this threshold will be taxed from the employee on a yearly basis.
Now that you know how to download and fill out Form 15G, you can save on TDS from your interest income. However, if individuals falsely declare Form 15G to avoid tax deduction at source, they are punishable by fines or imprisonment under the Income Tax Act’s Section 277.
Form 15G is filled out to ensure that there is no TDS from an individual’s interest income in a given year.
To be eligible for submitting Form 15G, you must be an individual of 60 years or less, your gross tax liability following exemptions must be zero, and your total earnings from interest must not cross the exemption limit.
Yes, your PAN card is mandatory for filing Form 15G. Without proper PAN details, your declaration will become invalid.
No, the financer or bank must fill out the second part of Form 15G.
For PF withdrawal, you should submit your Form 15G at the time of submitting the PF withdrawal claim form.
In all other cases, you should submit your Form 15G at the beginning of every financial year. This will ensure that there is no tax deduction at source from your interest earnings.