Skip to main content

Govt rolls back PF withdrawal norms after massive protests

By
Under fire from trade unions, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has rolled back its decision to tighten provident fund (PF) withdrawal norms.
This is the second rollback in EPFO withdrawal norms. Earlier, the government was forced to reverse the Budget proposal to tax 60 per cent of the PF corpus at the time of withdrawal, following widespread protests.
“Considering the representations received from various quarters and after consultations with the various stakeholders, the government has decided to withdraw the February 10 notification with immediate effect,” the labour ministry stated.
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya announced the roll back in Hyderabad on Tuesday, hours after saying the implementation of the new norms was put on hold till July 31.
In February, EPFO had issued a notification saying the employer’s contribution to the PF corpus could be withdrawn only after the employee turns 58 years of age.
According to EPFO rules, 12 per cent of an employee’s salary goes as contribution to PF along with a matching contribution from the employer.
Earlier, subscribers could claim 90 per cent of their PF corpus at 54 years.
Following protests from trade unions, the government also proposed to allow full withdrawal of PF certain grounds such as purchase of a house, serious illness, marriage, and professional education of children. The labour ministry has now referred the matter to the law ministry for clearance.
Now that the February notification has been rolled back, “workers can withdraw the entire amount from the provident fund as per existing provisions of the EPF Scheme, 1952, including the employers’ share of 3.67 per cent”, the labour ministry said.
The labour minister, though, defended the February amendment saying it was done in workers’ interest. “The objective was to provide a minimum social security to the workers at the time of retirement. It was noticed that 80 per cent of the claims settled by EPFO belonged to premature withdrawal of funds, treating the PF accounts as savings accounts, and not a social security instrument.”
“Firstly, it was a decision taken in haste and the government failed to inform the workers accordingly. Today’s (Tuesday’s) decision should have been taken long back avoiding all the unfortunate incidents across the country,” said A K Padmanabhan, president of CITU and member of EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees.
Business Standard New Delhi,20th April 2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New income tax slab and rates for new tax regime FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) announced in Budget 2023

By
  Basic exemption limit has been hiked to Rs.3 lakh from Rs 2.5 currently under the new income tax regime in Budget 2023. Further, the income tax slabs in the new tax regime has been changed. According to the announcement, 5 income tax slabs will be there in FY 2023-24, from 6 income tax slabs currently. A rebate under Section 87A has been enhanced under the new tax regime; from the current income level of Rs.5 lakh to Rs.7 lakh. Thus, individuals opting for the new income tax regime and having an income up to Rs.7 lakh will not pay any taxes   The income tax slabs under the new income tax regime will now be as follows: Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh - 0% tax rate Rs 3 lakh to 6 lakh - 5% Rs 6 lakh to 9 lakh - 10% Rs 9 lakh to Rs 12 lakh - 15% Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh - 20% Above Rs 15 lakh - 30%   The revised Income tax slabs under new tax regime for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)   Income tax slabs under new tax regime Income tax rates under new tax regime O to Rs 3 lakh 0 Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh 5% Rs 6
Post a Comment
Read more

Jaitley plans to cut MSME tax rate to 25%

By
Income tax for companies with annual turnover up to ?50 crore has been reduced to 25% from 30% in order to make Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) companies more viable and also to encourage firms to migrate to a company format. This move will benefit 96% or 6.67 lakh of the 6.94 lakh companies filing returns of lower taxation and make MSME sector more competitive as compared with large companies. However, bigger firms have shown their disappointment since the proposal for reducing tax rates was to make Indian firms competitive globally and it is the large firms that are competing globally. The Finance Minister foregone revenue estimate of Rs 7,200 crore per annum for this for this measure. Besides, the Finance Minister refrained from removing or reducing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), a popular demand from India Inc., but provided a higher period of 15 years for carry forward of future credit claims, instead of the existing 10-year period. “It is not practical to rem
1 comment
Read more

Don't forget to verify your income tax return in August: Here's the process

By
  An ITR return needs to be verified within 120 days of filing of tax return. Now that you have filed your income tax return, remember to verify it because your return filing process is not complete unless you do so. The CBDT has reduced the time limit of ITR verification to 30 days (from 120 days) from the date of return submission. The new rule is applicable for the returns filed online on or after 1st August 2022. E-verification is the most convenient and instant method for verifying your ITR. However, if you prefer not to e-verify, you have the option to verify it by sending a physical copy of the ITR-V. Taxpayers who filed returns by July 31, 2023 but forget to verify their tax returns, will get the following email from the tax department, as per ClearTax. If your ITR is not verified within 30 days of e-filing, it will be considered invalid, and may be liable to pay a Late Fee. Aadhaar OTP | EVC through bank account | EVC through Demat account | Sending duly signed ITR-V through s
Post a Comment
Read more