Thursday, March 9, 2017

You can now switch from EPF to NPS and it's not taxable: Here's how

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has issued broad guidelines

India's pensions regulator in has allowed members of the Employees' (EPF) option to move their retirement savings to the National Pension System (NPS) giving effect to a proposal mooted by the two years ago in the Union Budget for 2015-16, an offcial statement said on Tuesday.
"With the gaining momentum vis-a-vis other retirement products and a number of queries being raised on the transfer of amounts from recognised Provident/Superannuation Funds to NPS, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has clarified the process through a circular dated March 6, 2017," a Finance Ministry statement here said.
As the rules, a member looking to transfer funds from to must have an active Tier-I account, which can be opened either through the employer where is implemented or online through eNPS on the Trust website.
The amount transferred from a recognised or superannuation fund to would not be treated as income of the current year and, as such, would not be taxable.
"Further, the transferred recognised Provident Fund/Superannuation Fund will not be treated as contribution of the current year by employee/employer and accordingly the subscriber would not make Income claim of contribution for this transferred amount," the statement said.

How to go about it 

The subscriber must approach the concerned PF office where their account is, through her or his employer and request to transfer their savings to an account.
"The recognised Provident Fund/Superannuation Fund Trust may initiate transfer of the Fund as per the provisions of the Trust Deed read with the provisions of the Income Act, 1961," it added.
In case of a or private sector employee, the employee should request the recognised provident or superannuation fund to issue a letter to his present employer mentioning that the amount was being transferred from the recognised fund to the Tier I account of the employee. This should be recorded by the present employer or POP as the case may be, while uploading the amount.

While the return on savings this year is expected to be 8.65%, the offers multiple asset allocation options and fund managers for its members to choose from, with varying rates of returns.
 
So in essence, the subscriber should have an active Tier-1 account.

The present employer  ie the nodal office while uploading the fund has to mention the transfer from PF/superannuation fund in the remarks column while uploading. The upload has to be made as per request letter of the ex-employer. In case of private sector employees, including subscribers covered under All Citizen’s Model NPS, the employees should request the recognised PF/superannuation fund to issue a letter to the present employer/PoP as the case may be mentioning that amount is being transferred from the PF/Superannuation fund to be credit in the account of the employee/individual Tier-I account.