Finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that he will roll back the tax on salaried Middle India’s one true friend—the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). The Budget had proposed to tax 60% of the EPF corpus on retirement, leaving 40% tax-free. But if the 60% was invested in an annuity, it would remain tax-free; the tax will be paid on the income the annuity generates. The National Pension System (NPS) has retained tax-free status for 40% of its corpus. You can take 60% of your NPS corpus as a lump sum at age 60 and 40% must go to buy an annuity. Of the total NPS corpus, 40% will now be tax-free and you will pay slab rate tax on 20% of the corpus. If your NPS corpus is Rs.100, then your tax is on Rs.20. The annuity income is taxed at slab rate.
Expense AccountPersonal FinanceMarch 8, 2016by Monika Halan0EPF tax rolls back for now. Good time to rethink pension reform
EPF is now tax free as before, but MoF should use this time to rethink the pension marketplace.