EPF Growth.

EPF stands for Employee Provident Fund. It is a mandatory savings scheme for salaried employees in India, overseen by the EPFO.

Usually, an employee contributes 12% of their basic salary plus dearness allowance (DA) to the EPF.

The employer contributes 12%. Out of this, 3.67% goes to EPF and 8.33% goes to the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS).

The interest rate for the 2025-26 cycle is established at 8.25% per annum.

Yes, the 3.67% share in the EPF account earns interest at the same rate as the employee's share.

You can withdraw the full amount upon retirement after reaching age 58, or if you remain unemployed for more than two months.

For companies with more than 20 employees, EPF is mandatory for employees earning up to ₹15,000 basic salary. For those above, it is voluntary.

Yes, through the Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF), you can contribute up to 100% of your basic salary and DA.

Interest on employee contributions up to ₹2.5 lakh per year is tax-free. Anything above that is taxable as per current 2026 norms.

The Universal Account Number (UAN) is a 12-digit number that links multiple Member IDs allotted to a single employee by different employers.

Yes, partial withdrawals are allowed for specific purposes like buying a house, medical treatment, or education after 5-7 years of service.

Most calculators, including HQCalc, focus on the EPF corpus. EPS is a separate pension benefit paid monthly after retirement.

You can transfer your EPF balance from your old employer to the new one using your UAN via the EPFO portal.

Yes. EPF is for salaried employees and involves employer matching. PPF is a voluntary scheme open to all Indian citizens.

Interest is calculated monthly on the opening balance but is credited to the account at the end of the financial year.

The standard maturity/retirement age for EPF is 58 years.

You can withdraw 75% after 1 month of unemployment and the remaining 25% after 2 months.

Yes, it is mandatory to file an e-Nomination so that the corpus can be easily transferred to your family in case of an emergency.

These forms are submitted to avoid TDS (Tax Deducted at Source) on EPF withdrawals if the total income is below the taxable limit.

HQCalc by Shivam Sagar uses a monthly compounding algorithm verified for 2026, ensuring higher accuracy than simple annual interest tools.