Section 192A of the Income Tax Act mandates the deduction of TDS on withdrawals from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). According to this provision, TDS must be deducted at the time of EPF withdrawal. This means that when you withdraw money from your EPF account, a certain percentage of the total amount is deducted as TDS, and the remaining balance is credited to you. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that, similar to other sources of income, tax is appropriately paid on EPF withdrawals.

Apart from TDS applicability, the EPFO has laid down several specific guidelines for withdrawing funds from EPF accounts. In this article, we will gain insights from Sandeep Agrawal, Director and Founder of Teamlease Regtech, about EPF withdrawal rules, taxation, and TDS applicability.

EPF withdrawal rules:
EPF allows employees to withdraw their accumulated corpus under various circumstances:

Retirement: Employees can make a full EPF withdrawal upon retirement after reaching 58 years of age.

Partial Withdrawals: Partial withdrawals are allowed under certain conditions, including: