PF calculator: your EPF balance at retirement, interest at 8.25% and the EPS pension

PF is 12% of your basic pay plus dearness allowance, deducted every month and matched by your employer; it earns 8.25% for FY 2025-26, computed on the monthly running balance and credited once a year. On a ₹30,000 basic, you put in ₹3,600 a month, your employer adds ₹2,350 to your EPF and ₹1,250 to your pension account, and 30 years of that with 5% yearly raises grows to about ₹1,59,86,199 at 58, of which ₹1,06,95,883 is interest. The calculator above runs exactly that projection on your own numbers; the sections below explain each rule it applies, what changed in 2025, and how the EPS pension on top of it is worked out.

How the PF calculator works

The calculator follows the Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952, month by month. Each month it adds your contribution and the employer’s EPF share to the balance, and works out interest on the balance that was there at the start of the month at one-twelfth of the yearly rate. At the end of each year the twelve months of interest are credited, so from then on they earn interest too. Your basic rises by the percentage you choose at the start of every year. The employer’s share is split the way EPFO splits it: 8.33% of basic up to ₹15,000 goes to the pension scheme and does not appear in your EPF balance, and whatever remains of the 12% goes to EPF.

If you are modelling a specific increment rather than a steady rate, the salary hike calculator turns a hike percentage into the new basic, CTC and in-hand pay.

Two toggles matter more than any other input. Employer base: the Scheme only obliges an employer to contribute on wages up to ₹15,000, and some stop there; many contribute on the full basic. Your salary slip settles it: if the employer PF line is ₹1,800 while your basic is above ₹15,000, you are capped. EPS membership: anyone who joined EPF on or after 1 September 2014 with basic above ₹15,000 was never enrolled in EPS, so their employer’s entire 12% goes to EPF and there is no pension. The calculator switches both the split and the pension line when you change it.

What PF is in your salary: the 12% + 12% split

“PF” on a salary slip is the employee share: 12% of basic plus DA, taken from your gross. The employer matches it, but the match is divided, and the division is the part most people never see. On a ₹30,000 basic:

The 8.33% pension slice is calculated on wages capped at ₹15,000, which is why it is ₹1,250 for everyone earning that or more. An employer contributing on your full basic therefore sends 12% of basic minus ₹1,250 to your EPF; one that caps at the ceiling sends ₹550. Insurance and administration charges are the employer’s cost and never reach your account. Nothing in cost-to-company terms changes this: the salary calculator and the LPA to in-hand table both model PF on basic capped at ₹15,000, which is the conservative case.

How PF interest is calculated: the monthly running balance

Paragraph 60 of the Scheme fixes the method. Interest accrues on the monthly running balance, that is the balance at the start of each month, at the yearly rate divided by twelve, and the year’s total is credited to the account once, after the financial year ends. Contributions earn interest from the month after they arrive, and the credited interest earns interest from the next year, so the compounding is annual even though the computation is monthly.

Take the first year of the example: ₹3,600 from you and ₹2,350 from the employer, ₹5,950 a month, at 8.25%. Month one earns nothing because the opening balance is zero; month two earns 8.25% ÷ 12 on ₹5,950, about ₹41; by month twelve the opening balance is ₹65,450 and the month earns about ₹450. The year’s interest comes to ₹2,700, credited in one entry, and the balance after year one is ₹74,100. EPFO posts that credit after the rate is notified, which is why the 8.25% for FY 2025-26, decided by the Central Board of Trustees on 2 March 2026 and notified on 1 July 2026, reached passbooks only from July.

PF interest rate history

The rate is set once a year, after the year has ended, from the fund’s own earnings. It has stayed between 8.10% and 8.80% for a decade, and at 8.25% for the last three years.

For projections the calculator uses the current 8.25%. Change the rate field to test a lower number: at 8% over 30 years the example corpus drops by roughly ₹6,08,276, which is a useful reminder that the rate decision each February or March matters more than almost anything you do with the account.

A worked example: ₹30,000 basic, 28 to 58

Default inputs: basic ₹30,000 rising 5% a year, 12% from you, employer on full basic, EPS member, no opening balance. The columns are the year’s contributions (yours plus the employer’s EPF share), the year’s interest, and the balance after it is credited.

Three things stand out. By year 15 the yearly interest overtakes the yearly contributions, and from there the account grows mostly on its own. Of the final ₹1,59,86,199, your own money is ₹28,70,158 and the employer’s ₹24,20,158; interest is the rest. And the employer sent ₹4,50,000 to EPS over the 30 years, money that buys the pension below rather than adding to this balance.

The EPS pension: how much you get from 58

The 8.33% that goes to the Employees’ Pension Scheme buys a monthly pension from age 58, provided you have at least 10 years of service. The formula is fixed:

Monthly pension = pensionable salary × pensionable service ÷ 70. Pensionable salary is the average of your last 60 months’ wages, capped at ₹15,000. Pensionable service is your years in EPS, with 2 years added once you cross 20, and capped at 35. So a member on ₹15,000 or more who retires after 30 years gets 15,000 × 32 ÷ 70 = ₹6,857 a month; the most the formula can produce is 15,000 × 35 ÷ 70 = ₹7,500. The floor is ₹1,000 a month. Non-contributory periods, days with no contribution such as unpaid leave, are deducted from service, which is what the NCP field on EPFO’s own calculator asks for.

The calculator estimates your pension from your current age, retirement age and the years you enter as already served, and sets it to zero if you turn off EPS membership. Two caveats. Members who exercised the Supreme Court’s 2022 higher-pension option have pensionable salary above the cap and are not modelled here. And the ₹1,000 minimum has been under review: a Parliamentary Standing Committee called it inadequate in March 2026 and the Labour Ministry has said it is examining a revision, but as of 7 October 2026 no higher figure has been notified.

PF withdrawal rules after the October 2025 changes

At its 238th meeting on 13 October 2025 the Central Board of Trustees rewrote the partial-withdrawal rules. Thirteen separate provisions became three categories, Essential Needs (illness, education, marriage), Housing Needs and Special Circumstances, and a member may now withdraw up to 100% of the eligible balance, employee and employer share included, after just 12 months of service. Education withdrawals are allowed up to 10 times and marriage up to 5, against a combined limit of 3 before. Under Special Circumstances no reason has to be given.

The counterweight is a minimum balance of 25% of contributions that must stay in the account at all times, so that something keeps compounding until 58. Two other timings moved in the same decision: a final settlement after leaving a job, which used to be available after two months of unemployment, now needs 12 months; and withdrawing the pension contribution instead of taking a pension now needs 36 months.

Full settlement at 58, or on leaving India permanently, is unchanged. The EPFO 3.0 plan announced at the same meeting includes withdrawals through UPI and ATMs; as of 7 October 2026 that facility has been announced and tested but not switched on for all members, so claims still go through the member portal or the UMANG app.

The Labour Codes and the 50% wage rule

The four Labour Codes came into force on 21 November 2025, and the Code on Social Security replaces the 1952 Act as the parent law for PF. The change that reaches payslips is the definition of wages: basic, dearness allowance and retaining allowance must together be at least 50% of total remuneration, and if allowances push the rest above half, the excess is treated as wages. For a salary structured with a low basic and large allowances, that raises the base on which 12% is deducted and matched, so take-home falls a little and PF rises. The Code keeps the ₹15,000 ceiling for the mandatory contribution, so employers that cap at the ceiling see no change.

PF and income tax: 80C, the ₹2.5 lakh rule and TDS on withdrawal

• Your contribution is deductible under Section 80C within the ₹1.5 lakh limit, in the old regime only; the new regime gives no deduction, which the income tax calculator shows side by side.
• Interest is tax-free, except on the part of your own contributions above ₹2.5 lakh in a year (₹5 lakh where the employer does not contribute), a rule aimed at large voluntary contributions. The employer’s contribution is taxable only where it exceeds ₹7.5 lakh a year together with NPS and superannuation.
• Withdrawal after five years of continuous service is tax-free. Before five years it is taxable, and the employer’s share and the interest on it are added to your income; EPFO deducts 10% TDS under Section 192A if the payout exceeds ₹50,000, or at the maximum rate if no PAN is on file. Transfer on changing jobs keeps the five-year clock running, which is why transferring beats withdrawing. The what is TDS explainer covers how that credit comes back when you file.

VPF: contributing more than 12%

You can raise your own contribution to any percentage of basic up to 100% through the Voluntary Provident Fund. It earns the same 8.25%, sits in the same account, and follows the same withdrawal rules; the employer’s share does not rise with it. The one limit is the tax rule above: once your own contributions pass ₹2.5 lakh in a year, the interest on the excess is taxed at slab rates. Set the contribution field to 20% or 25% to see what VPF does to the final balance; for a ₹30,000 basic the whole year stays under ₹2.5 lakh, so the interest remains tax-free.

PF में कितना ब्याज मिलता है? (PF me kitna interest milta hai)

Common questions