EPF Calculator (Provident Fund)

How to use this EPF calculator

1. Enter your monthly basic pay + DA, as shown on your payslip. PF is worked out on this, not on your gross salary or CTC.
2. Enter your age now and the age you expect to retire. 58 is the retirement age for EPF and EPS purposes.
3. Add your current EPF balance from your EPFO passbook: the employee and employer shares, not the pension column.
4. Set your yearly pay rise and the interest rate. The rate starts at 8.25%, the latest declared.
5. Choose how PF is worked out: on your full basic + DA, or on the ₹25,000 wage ceiling for both of you, or for your employer only. Your payslip shows which.
6. Open "More options" to add voluntary PF (VPF), or to switch off the pension share if you are not an EPS member.

How EPF contributions and interest work

Each month you put 12% of your basic pay + DA into EPF, and your employer adds 12%. Your employer's share is split: 8.33% of wages up to the ₹25,000 wage ceiling, at most ₹2,083 a month, goes to the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS), and the rest goes to your EPF account. EPS money is not part of your EPF balance: it buys a monthly pension from 58.

Interest is worked out on the monthly running balance and credited once a year. The balance at the start of the year earns a full 12 months; each month's contribution earns from the following month.

Monthly PF at common salaries

With PF worked out on your full basic + DA and an EPS member:

If your employer contributes only on the ₹25,000 ceiling, its share stays at ₹3,000 a month however much you earn, and only ₹917 of that reaches your EPF. If you are not an EPS member, the employer's full 12% goes to EPF.

EPF balance at 58 by salary and starting age

Starting from a zero balance, with pay rising 6% a year, PF on full basic + DA and 8.25% interest every year:

Ten extra years make the biggest difference, because interest compounds on a growing balance. These are estimates in future rupees: they assume steady pay rises, no withdrawals and the same rate every year.

How PF is worked out also matters. For the worked example (₹40,000 basic + DA at 30, ₹3,00,000 balance):

EPF rules in 2026: wage ceiling, labour codes and EPS

The four labour codes, including the Code on Social Security, 2020, came into force on 21 November 2025. Under them, the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 2026 and the Employees' Pension Scheme, 2026 replaced the 1952 and 1995 schemes from 29 June 2026. The contribution rates did not change: 12% each from you and your employer (10% in some notified classes of establishment).

Wages for PF now follow the codes' single definition: basic pay, dearness allowance and any retaining allowance. If your other allowances add up to more than half of your total pay, the excess is added back to wages, so a salary built mostly of allowances no longer keeps PF wages low.

The wage ceiling rose to ₹25,000 a month on 17 September 2026. A Labour Ministry notification of that date (S.O. 5109(E)) replaced the ₹15,000 ceiling, which had applied since September 2014 and was notified again under the Code on 29 May 2026. Contributions are compulsory on wages up to the ceiling, so where PF is limited to the ceiling it is now 12% of ₹25,000, or ₹3,000 a month each from you and your employer (₹1,800 before), and the most that goes to EPS is ₹2,083 a month (₹1,250 before). On pay above the ceiling, you and your employer can jointly opt to contribute on the full amount, and you can add voluntary PF, which your employer does not have to match. If you were in EPF but not EPS and your wages were ₹25,000 or less on 17 September 2026, you now join EPS too.

EPS membership ends at 58. You need 10 years of pension service for a pension; with less, EPS pays a one-off withdrawal benefit instead. The pension is your average wages over the last 60 months, capped at the ceiling, times your years of service ÷ 70, with 2 years added at 20 years' service, and at least ₹1,000 a month. Service under the old ₹15,000 ceiling is counted pro rata. The government also pays 1.16% of wages up to ₹15,000 into EPS. If you opted for a pension on your full pay (the higher pension option), more goes to EPS than the calculator assumes.

Interest is set each year by the government with the EPFO board: 8.25% for both 2024-25 and 2025-26. Change the rate in the calculator to test other cases.

Withdrawals and tax in 2026-27

You can withdraw your whole EPF balance when you retire after 55. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, which applies from 2026-27:

• Your own contributions count towards the old regime's ₹1.5 lakh yearly limit for tax-saving investments. There is no such deduction in the new regime.
• Interest on your own contributions above ₹2.5 lakh a year is taxable each year (₹5 lakh if your employer contributes nothing). The calculator warns you when you cross it.
• The balance is tax-free when withdrawn after 5 years of continuous service, including service with earlier employers whose PF you transferred.
• Employer contributions to PF, NPS and superannuation funds above ₹7.5 lakh a year in total are taxed as part of your salary.

When you change jobs, transfer your PF to the new employer's account under your UAN rather than withdrawing it. The money keeps earning interest, the calculator's projection still holds, and your earlier service counts towards the 5 years that make the balance tax-free.

EPF is usually one part of a retirement plan. Compare it with market-linked savings in the NPS calculator and tax-free PPF, add the lump sum from the gratuity calculator, and check the total against what you will need with the retirement corpus calculator. To see what your PF contribution saves in tax, use the income tax calculator.

This calculator gives estimates for education and planning. It is not financial advice, and your lender's figures may differ. See how we calculate.