Paragraphs 46 and 49

EPF withdrawal and claims: 2026 rules, checklist and TDS

ईपीएफ निकासी: नियम, जाँच और टीडीएस

Last reviewed: 11 November 2026

EPF withdrawals in 2026 are governed by the Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 2026, G.S.R. 525(E) dated 29 June 2026, gazette number CG-DL-E-01072026-273957. Partial withdrawals are paragraph 46. Full settlement is paragraph 49. Tax deducted at source, where it applies, is section 192A of the Income-tax Act. The checklist above applies those rules to figures you type. The claim itself is filed on the Unified Member Portal. If you are changing jobs and do not need the cash, a transfer is the other route, and it is not a withdrawal.

Partial withdrawals and the 25% minimum balance

Paragraph 46 starts from an aggregate: the total contributions standing to the member’s credit, which means the employee share, the employer share and the interest on both, up to the date of the withdrawal. The Minimum Balance is 25% of that aggregate, and it must still be there after the withdrawal. The Eligible Member Balance is what remains once that 25% is subtracted, so it is at most 75% of the aggregate. The smallest partial withdrawal the paragraph allows is ₹1,000. If the eligible balance is below ₹1,000, a partial withdrawal is not available on those figures.

The percentage is applied to the aggregate balance, then rounded to the nearest rupee on the same convention the Scheme uses elsewhere, 50 paise or more upward. On a balance of ₹2,00,000 the minimum that stays is ₹50,000 and the eligible balance is ₹1,50,000. On ₹40,000 the minimum is ₹10,000 and the eligible balance is ₹30,000. On ₹1,000 the minimum is ₹250 and the eligible balance is ₹750, which is below the ₹1,000 floor, so the partial withdrawal does not go through.

Purpose, membership and frequency

After twelve months’ total membership, the member may withdraw up to 100% of the eligible balance for the purposes in paragraph 46. The frequency caps are part of the paragraph, not a bank’s internal policy. Paragraph 46(6) says the counts under sub-paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) start afresh from the commencement of the 2026 Scheme. Paragraph 47 says how membership is added up: service under the same employer before the Scheme applied, excluding breaks; periods of Fund membership; membership of a private provident fund of an exempted establishment; and membership as an employee exempted under section 143 immediately before the current membership.

Housing in paragraph 46(3) is a list, not a vague word. It covers purchase of a flat or house, purchase of a site, construction of a house, repayment of a home loan taken for purchase, construction or a site, and additions, alterations, renovations or improvements to an existing house or flat. A withdrawal that does not fit that list is not a housing withdrawal, even if the money would be useful for rent.

Paragraph 46(5) is the early-exit case. A member who leaves employment before completing twelve months of membership may take a partial withdrawal not exceeding the eligible member balance. Someone who is still employed and has fewer than twelve months cannot use the ordinary purposes yet. On the checklist, “still in covered employment: no” plus fewer than twelve months of membership is this paragraph 46(5) path.

PIB Release ID 2136592 records that the auto-settlement limit for advance claims was enhanced to ₹1 lakh for illness, housing, marriage and education in FY 2024-25. That sentence is about how some claims are processed. It does not change the 25% minimum, the frequency caps, or the member’s entitlement. A claim above or below ₹1 lakh is still tested against paragraph 46.

Full settlement under paragraph 49

Full settlement pays the amount standing to the member’s credit. It is not limited to 75%, and the 25% minimum does not stay behind. The conditions are narrower than a partial withdrawal.

Until one of those conditions is met, the Scheme’s provision is the paragraph 46 partial route and its minimum balance. Resigning on a Friday and applying for a full settlement on Monday does not meet paragraph 49(2). Twelve continuous months out of every covered establishment is the test, not twelve months out of one company if another covered job started in between.

How to file on the official portal

PIB Release ID 2136592 says claim filing is free. A fee quoted by a cybercafé is not an EPFO charge. Grievances go to EPFiGMS or CPGRAMS.

TDS under section 192A

The Income Tax Department’s TDS material says that no tax is deducted under section 192A if the taxable premature withdrawal is less than ₹50,000. The Department’s rate table lists section 192A — payment of the accumulated balance of a provident fund which is taxable in the hands of the employee — at 10%. The usual case in which that balance is taxable is a premature withdrawal before five years of continuous service, under the Fourth Schedule rules. If PAN is not furnished, section 206AA can require the higher of the prescribed rate, the rates in force, or 20%.

The checklist therefore asks two yes-or-no questions and never the PAN itself: has continuous service reached five years, and is PAN on file with EPFO. If service is five years or more, it says a 192A deduction is unlikely. If the payable amount is under ₹50,000, it quotes the Department’s threshold. If a full settlement is allowed, service is under five years, and the amount is ₹50,000 or more, it says the published rate with PAN on file is 10%, or that 206AA may raise the rate if PAN is not on file. It stops there. Multiplying out “your tax is ₹8,000” would be a personal computation, which this page does not do.

A transfer from one PF account to another is not a withdrawal. Section 192A is not a reason to avoid a transfer after a job change.

Worked examples

Each row uses the definitions above. The checklist produces the same eligible and maximum figures for the same inputs.

The default numbers loaded in the checklist are the first row: illness, 24 months, still employed, ₹2,00,000. Changing the purpose to full settlement, with “still employed” left as yes and no paragraph 49(1) ground selected, correctly returns “not yet”, and it reminds you that the paragraph 46 eligible balance on those figures is ₹1,50,000.

None of these rows is a promise that EPFO has approved a particular person. They are the arithmetic of the Scheme and of section 192A’s published threshold and rate. The passbook balance you should type is the one on the official passbook, not a guess from a payslip. The interest that built that balance is a separate calculation, on the interest page.