The employees? provident fund or EPF acts as a retirement fund for most in the organized sector. Both the employee as well as the employer put a percentage of money in the EPF account of the employee to create a corpus. However, if you want to withdraw money before retirement, it can only be for specified needs. EPFO allows partial withdrawals for certain circumstances such as medical emergencies, education, marriage, home loan repayment, purchase or renovation of a house, etc. Partial withdrawals can be made from the PF account under certain circumstances.
Here are certain circumstances under which you can make a partial withdrawal;
Marriage and education: An account holder for himself/herself as well as for his/her siblings and children marriage can withdraw from the EPF account.
One can also withdraw money from the EPF account for paying the fees related to one’s child’s higher education, (after the completion of 10th grade).
One can withdraw of up to 50 per cent of his/her contribution from the provident fund with interest. To do so, however, one needs to have completed a minimum of 7 years in service to be eligible for this withdrawal.
Note that, an account holder can withdraw 3 times till retirement, for marriage as well as for education.
Home loan repayment: An account holder can also withdraw the amount from one’s provident fund account after completion of 10 years of service.
The withdrawal can be done under certain conditions, for instance, the account holder’s home for which loan is being repaid should be registered under the accountholder’s name or spouse’s name otherwise held jointly. The account holder also needs to submit relevant documents to the EPFO while applying for withdrawal.
The account holder can withdraw at least 36 months’ basic wages and dearness allowance, a total of employer’s contribution and employee’s contribution with interest income in the PF account, or the interest amount of the home loan along with the total outstanding principal.
Purchase of land or construction of a house: An account holder can withdraw from the EPF account for purchasing a house or buying a piece of land to construct a house. It can also be to fund the construction of the account holder’s own house.
However, the account holder needs to complete a minimum of 5 years in service, to be eligible for this withdrawal. Additionally, the house or land for construction should be registered in the account holder’s name, or spouse’s name or held jointly.
How to do it?
Account-holders can withdraw from the provident fund account by submitting an online application. One can also submit a physical form at the local EPFO office. For partial withdrawals, account holders also need to submit a self-attested form.
Account-holders can submit a PF withdrawal application online through the EPF portal for various purposes. To apply online, the account holder must have his/her universal account number (UAN) activated and linked to his/her PAN, Aadhaar, or bank account.
