How employee contributions over 2.5 lakhs gets taxed like a FD

Finance Bill 2021 has proposed that employee contributions over 2.5 lakh will be taxed as per slab.

Assume that your EPF balance as on 31st March 2020 is Rs. 10,00,000. The employer contribution is, Rs. 20,000 a month; The employee contribution is Rs. 20,000 a month or Rs. 2,40,000 a year (FY).

In this case, there is no change in rule and nothing need to be done. Suppose the employee decided to invest via VPF Rs. 5000 a month. The total annual contribution by the employee is (5000 x 12) + 2,40,000 = 3,00,000.

If the EPF rate is say 8% then 8% of (3,00,000 – 2,50,000) = Rs. 4000 should be shown as income while filing ITR and this will be taxed as per slab rate.