Middle-Class Heartburn over EPF Tax Forces Govt to Clarify

After EPF googly and consequent backlash, govt forced to clarify.

Will your contributions the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) be taxable? When that became a matter of intense speculation on Monday following FM Arun Jaitley’s Budget speech, the government was forced to ‘clarify’.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia confirmed:

1. Only interest accrued on 60 percent contribution to EPF after 1 April 2016 will be taxed; principal amount to remain tax exempt.

2. Small salaried employees with up to Rs 15,000/month income will be kept out of purview of proposed taxation of EPF.

3. All PPF contributions will continue to remain tax emempt, no tax on withdrawal of PPF.

#RollbackEPF

The decision that would have affected nearly six crore people led to much heartburn on social media with #RollbackEPF among the top Twitter trends this morning.

The attempt to 'clarify' the EPF ruling by MoS Finance and the Secretary show us how clueless this government is on serious matters.

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) March 1, 2016

. @AITCofficial were first off the block on PF issue soon after #Budget2016 speech was delivered . Happy that #RollBackEPF now buzzing

— Derek O'Brien (@quizderek) March 1, 2016

. @AITCofficial were first off the block on PF issue soon after #Budget2016 speech was delivered . Happy that #RollBackEPF now buzzing

— Derek O'Brien (@quizderek) March 1, 2016

Dont trouble the Middle class, dear @narendramodi #RollBackEPF for better sense to prevail upon

— Youth Congress (@IYC) March 1, 2016

Do you want the Govt to #RollbackEPF taxing?
Share & let them hear👍

— Dilip K. Pandey (@dilipkpandey) March 1, 2016