What is the difference between Provident Fund and Employee Provident Fund?

Hello Folks,

Could you please tell me what the difference is between Provident Fund and Employee Provident Fund?

PF and EPF are the same things. 12% of the amount is being deducted from the employee's salary, and the same amount is contributed by the employer. However, the rule has changed after COVID-19. For the employer's part, the contribution amount has been reduced to 10% of the gross salary, which is deposited in the PF account every month.

If you know the difference between PPF and EPF:

PPF is a public provident fund that can be opened by any citizen of India in a post office, government bank, or some private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis, etc.

The minimum compulsory contribution per year for PPF is Rs. 500, and the maximum amount that can be deposited is Rs. 1.5 lakh per annum. The interest rates are declared quarterly. PPF has a lock-in period of 15 years, though partial withdrawals are allowed after seven years of completion.

EPF is mandatory, while PPF is voluntary.

I hope the above points have helped you understand what PF is or the difference between PPF and EPF!

PF and EPF are the same things. 12% of the amount is being deducted from the employee's salary, and the same amount is contributed by the employer. However, the rule has changed post COVID-19. The employer's contribution amount is now 10% of the gross salary, deposited into the PF account every month.

If you want to know the difference between PPF and EPF:

PPF is a public provident fund that can be opened by any Indian citizen in a post office, government bank, or some private banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis, etc.

For PPF, the minimum compulsory contribution per year is Rs. 500, and the maximum amount one can deposit is Rs. 1.5 lakh per annum. The interest rates are declared quarterly. PPF has a lock-in period of 15 years, but after seven years, partial withdrawals are allowed.

EPF is mandatory, while PPF is voluntary.

For more information, you can visit: https://hrone.cloud/provident-fund/

Employee Provident Fund is a defined contribution scheme, wherein there's an equal contribution of a fixed sum to the Employee Provident Fund Organization from both the employer and the employee. In case the provident funds have exempt status, the employer is responsible for the provision of benefits and must ensure that the fund earns at least equivalent to EPFO rate or more. To know more, [read here!](https://kapadiaglobal.com/)

The gross salary here includes Basic + DA for one month, and the deducted amount is maintained by EPFO accounts. However, in some organizations, the fund is managed by organizations through LIC, etc. Therefore, the annual deduction and deposit statement regarding an employee are to be obtained from the F&A section of the respective organization.

Well, Provident Fund and Employee Provident Fund (EPF) are the same thing. There is no difference between the two, hence there should be no confusion.

For EPF, both the employee and the employer contribute an equal amount of 12% of the monthly salary of the employee. Employees can contribute more than 12% of their salary voluntarily, however the employer is not bound to match the extra contribution of the employee. There is a very well written blog on how PF calculations are done, you may like to read it and get more information https://empxtrack.com/blog/esi-pf-statutory-compliance/ .

There’s one more long-term investment scheme called Public Provident Fund (PPF) which provides income tax deduction under section 80C for the amount invested (subject to a limit of Rs 1.5 lakh a year). In the PPF scheme, an employee can invest their money without any involvement of their employer and it has a lock period of minimum 15 years.