What is EPF and who contributes to it?

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a mandatory retirement savings scheme for salaried employees managed by the EPFO. Both the employee and employer contribute 12% of the employee's basic salary (basic + DA) every month. Contributions are mandatory for any organisation with 20 or more employees, and the accumulated balance is paid out at retirement (or earlier under specific withdrawal rules).

How is EPF interest calculated?

EPF interest is declared every year by the EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation). The rate for FY 2025-26 is 8.25% per annum. Interest is technically calculated on the monthly running balance but credited to the account at year-end on the average balance. This calculator uses the standard simplified average-balance formula adopted by every consumer EPF calculator and the EPFO's own maturity estimator.

What is the difference between EPF and EPS?

EPF (Employee Provident Fund) is your accumulated provident fund balance — both employee 12% and (in this simplified estimate) employer 12% land in your EPF account. EPS (Employee Pension Scheme) takes 8.33% of the employer's contribution and diverts it to a pension fund, capped at ₹1,250 per month for basic salary up to ₹15,000. EPS provides a monthly pension after retirement. This calculator treats the full employer 12% as going into EPF for a simplified maturity estimate.

Can I withdraw EPF before retirement?

Partial withdrawal is allowed for specific reasons — marriage (self or children), higher education, home purchase or construction, medical emergencies for self or family, and home loan repayment. Each has a minimum service period and a withdrawal cap. Full withdrawal is permitted only after retirement (age 58 or later) or after being unemployed for 60 days or more. Withdrawing before 5 years of continuous service makes the withdrawal taxable.

Is EPF interest taxable?

EPF maturity is tax-free if you've completed 5 years of continuous service. As per the FY 2021-22 budget, interest on employee contributions above ₹2.5 lakh per year is taxable in your hands as Income from Other Sources — the ₹2.5 lakh threshold applies only to your own contribution, not the employer's. Below the threshold, interest remains tax-free. Withdrawals before 5 years of service are taxable in the year of withdrawal at your slab rate.

EPF Calculator — PF Maturity & EPS Pension Calculator (India)

EPF

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EPF Calculator

Calculate Employee Provident Fund (EPF) corpus at retirement with employer + employee 12% contributions, year-on-year salary growth, and annual interest compounding at current 8.25% rate.

Reviewed by the CalculatorKosh Editorial TeamUpdated June 2026Free · No sign-up

Your Details

Current Age

yrs

18 yrs60 yrs

Retirement Age

yrs

30 yrs65 yrs

Current Basic Salary (monthly)

₹

₹5 K₹1 Cr

Basic + DA. EPF is calculated on basic, not gross CTC.

Annual Increment

0%20%

Interest Rate (p.a.)

4%12%

EPFO declared rate for FY 2025-26 is 8.25%.

Current EPF Balance

₹

₹0₹10 Cr

Existing accumulated EPF balance, carried forward.

Drag sliders to explore different scenarios

Interest Rate8.25%

4%12%

Annual Increment8%

0%20%

What-If Maturity Corpus

₹4,25,75,298

Maturity Corpus

₹4,25,75,298

Total contributed: ₹1,58,62,962 · Interest earned: ₹2,66,12,335 · Years to retirement: 30

Employee Contribution

₹81.6 L

Employer EPF Share

₹77.1 L

Employer 12% minus EPS diversion

Total Interest

₹2.66 Cr

Tenure

30 yrs

EPS Monthly Pension

₹6,857/mo

Separate from the EPF corpus

Total to EPS

₹4.5 L

8.33% of pensionable salary (capped)

Contributions vs Interest62.5% from interest

Contributions ₹1,58,62,962Interest ₹2,66,12,335

Contributions vs Interest over career

Drag sliders to explore different scenarios

Interest Rate8.25%

4%12%

Annual Increment8%

0%20%

What-If Maturity Corpus

₹4,25,75,298

How It Works

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is the cornerstone retirement savings scheme for salaried employees. It is mandatory for any organisation with 20 or more employees, and is managed by the EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation). Each month, the employee contributes 12% of the basic salary (basic + DA), and the employer matches with another 12% — together building a tax-advantaged retirement corpus that compounds over the entire working life.

EPF compounding formula

interest_y = (opening + yearlyContribution / 2) × r

closing_y = opening + yearlyContribution + interest_y

Where r = annual rate set by the EPFO (8.25% for FY 2025-26), and yearlyContribution = monthly basic × 24% × 12 (employee 12% + employer 12%). The half-contribution term in the interest formula approximates the EPFO's monthly running-balance rule once the year-end credit is collapsed into a single annual figure — this is the same simplification used by every consumer EPF calculator.

Why EPF compounding is so powerful over a career

Three forces compound together: monthly 24% contribution (employee + employer), annual salary growth (typical 8% hike), and 8.25% interest credited each year on the running balance. Over a 30-year career starting at age 30 with a ₹50,000 basic, this combination grows a modest starting balance into a multi-crore retirement corpus — without you ever having to make a discretionary investment decision.

EPF vs EPS — the statutory split

The employer's 12% is split per the statutory rule: 8.33% of pensionable salary (capped at ₹15,000/month, so at most ₹1,250/month) is diverted to the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), and the remainder lands in your EPF account. Your own 12% always goes fully to EPF. This calculator models that split — the maturity figure is your EPF corpus, and the EPS portion is shown separately as an estimated monthly pension (pensionable salary × pensionable service ÷ 70, service capped at 35 years with a 2-year bonus past 20 years of service).

Frequently Asked Questions

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a mandatory retirement savings scheme for salaried employees managed by the EPFO. Both the employee and the employer contribute 12% of the basic salary (basic + DA) every month. Contributions are mandatory for any organisation with 20 or more employees, and the accumulated balance — along with the interest credited each year — is paid out at retirement or earlier under specific withdrawal rules.