Why is my employer's contribution less than mine?

Both contribute 12%, but ₹1,250 of your employer's share is diverted to the EPS pension scheme each month. On a ₹50,000 basic, only ₹4,750 of their ₹6,000 reaches your fund.

What is the ₹15,000 wage ceiling and does it apply to me?

EPS is always capped on ₹15,000. Whether your employer's EPF contribution is capped too depends on their policy — check your payslip, since the difference over a career is large.

Yes for the debt part of a long-term portfolio — 8.25% risk-free beats any FD after tax. But contributions above ₹2.5 lakh a year have taxable interest, and the money is locked until retirement.

What happens to my EPF when I change jobs?

Transfer it using your UAN rather than withdrawing. Withdrawing destroys the compounding and, before five years of service, makes the whole amount taxable.

What pension does the EPS money actually pay?

Pensionable salary × service ÷ 70, with salary capped at ₹15,000 — a maximum of roughly ₹7,500 a month after 35 years. Useful, but small relative to the corpus.

Is the maturity amount tax-free?

Yes, after five years of continuous service, and job transfers count. Withdraw earlier and the employer's share and all interest are taxed as salary.

Will my EPF alone be enough to retire on?

Usually not. EPF grows at about 8.25% while costs rise 6% or more, so the real return is around 2%. It is a strong foundation but most people need equity investments alongside it.

RetirementUpdated August 1, 2026

EPF Calculator

Project your provident fund to retirement with the detail most calculators skip: the 8.33% of your employer's contribution that is diverted to the pension scheme rather than your fund, the wage ceiling that caps it, and the effect of adding VPF.

How to use this calculator

Step 1
Enter your EPF wage
Basic pay plus dearness allowance, not gross CTC. Contributions are calculated only on this figure.
Step 2
Set your horizon and salary growth
Contributions rise with your basic pay, so the growth rate matters almost as much as the interest rate.
Step 3
Check how your employer contributes
Many employers cap their share at the ₹15,000 wage ceiling rather than paying 12% of actual basic. Your payslip will tell you.

Quick facts

Current rate: 8.25% a year
Statutory contribution: 12% from each side
Diverted to EPS: 8.33% of wages, capped at ₹1,250
Withdrawal: Tax-free after 5 years of service

Your EPF details

Enter your EPF wage — basic pay plus dearness allowance, not your gross CTC.

Monthly basic + DA

₹

Adjust basic pay

₹5,000₹3,00,000

This month's contributions

You (12% + VPF)₹6,000

Employer, into EPF₹4,751

Employer, into EPS pension₹1,250

Current age

yrs

Retirement age

yrs

Adjust retirement age

Age 31Age 70

EPF interest rate

Annual salary growth

Adjust salary growth

0%15%

Your basic pay grows from ₹50,000 to ₹1,86,673 a month by retirement.

Voluntary provident fund (VPF)

Adjust VPF

0%38%

Existing EPF balance

₹

Employer caps at the wage ceiling

Many employers contribute 12% of ₹15,000rather than 12% of your actual basic. Check your payslip.

Of the employer's 12%, 8.33% of wages up to ₹15,000 goes to the pension scheme rather than your fund. That money becomes a monthly pension, not a lump sum.

EPFO declares the interest rate each year, so the actual return will vary over a career-length horizon.

EPF corpus at retirement

₹2,29,00,593

After 28 years of contributions at 8.25%, withdrawn tax-free at age 58.

Your contributions: ₹42,04,986
Employer contributions: ₹37,85,154
Interest earned: ₹1,49,10,453
Interest as a share of the corpus: 65.1%

Withdrawal is tax-free once you have five years of continuous service, which makes EPF one of the most efficient long-term holdings available to a salaried employee.

Interest earned

₹1,49,10,453

Accrued monthly on the running balance and credited at the end of each year.

Total contributed: ₹79,90,140
Growth multiple: 2.87×

Diverted to the EPS pension

₹4,19,832

Part of your employer's 12% goes to the pension scheme instead of your fund, capped at ₹1,250 a month.

This month: ₹1,250/mo

This money is not part of the corpus above. It buys a modest monthly pension from age 58 instead.

Where the corpus comes from

Three sources build the fund, and over a full career the interest becomes the largest of them.

Your contributions18.4%
Employer contributions16.5%
Interest earned65.1%

A further ₹4,19,832 of your employer's share goes to the EPS pension and is not counted here.

Corpus by age

Contributions rise with your salary while interest compounds on an ever-larger balance, so the curve steepens sharply in the final decade.

This is why leaving EPF untouched between jobs matters: withdrawing resets the balance that the last decade of compounding depends on.

Year-by-year projection

Contributions grow with your basic pay, and interest is credited at the end of each year.

Year-by-year projection
Age	Monthly basic	You	Employer	Interest	Closing balance
31	₹50,000	₹72,000	₹57,006	₹5,765	₹1,34,771
32	₹52,500	₹75,600	₹60,606	₹17,205	₹2,88,182
33	₹55,125	₹79,380	₹64,386	₹30,200	₹4,62,148
34	₹57,881	₹83,349	₹68,355	₹44,906	₹6,58,758
35	₹60,775	₹87,516	₹72,522	₹61,499	₹8,80,297
36	₹63,814	₹91,892	₹76,898	₹80,167	₹11,29,254
37	₹67,005	₹96,487	₹81,493	₹1,01,117	₹14,08,351
38	₹70,355	₹1,01,311	₹86,317	₹1,24,574	₹17,20,553
39	₹73,873	₹1,06,377	₹91,383	₹1,50,783	₹20,69,096
40	₹77,566	₹1,11,696	₹96,702	₹1,80,013	₹24,57,506
41	₹81,445	₹1,17,280	₹1,02,286	₹2,12,556	₹28,89,629
42	₹85,517	₹1,23,144	₹1,08,150	₹2,48,730	₹33,69,654
43	₹89,793	₹1,29,302	₹1,14,308	₹2,88,883	₹39,02,146
44	₹94,282	₹1,35,767	₹1,20,773	₹3,33,391	₹44,92,077
45	₹98,997	₹1,42,555	₹1,27,561	₹3,82,667	₹51,44,860
46	₹1,03,946	₹1,49,683	₹1,34,689	₹4,37,159	₹58,66,391
47	₹1,09,144	₹1,57,167	₹1,42,173	₹4,97,354	₹66,63,085
48	₹1,14,601	₹1,65,025	₹1,50,031	₹5,63,784	₹75,41,925
49	₹1,20,331	₹1,73,277	₹1,58,283	₹6,37,025	₹85,10,510
50	₹1,26,348	₹1,81,940	₹1,66,946	₹7,17,708	₹95,77,105
51	₹1,32,665	₹1,91,037	₹1,76,043	₹8,06,515	₹1,07,50,700
52	₹1,39,298	₹2,00,589	₹1,85,595	₹9,04,190	₹1,20,41,075
53	₹1,46,263	₹2,10,619	₹1,95,625	₹10,11,543	₹1,34,58,862
54	₹1,53,576	₹2,21,150	₹2,06,156	₹11,29,451	₹1,50,15,618
55	₹1,61,255	₹2,32,207	₹2,17,213	₹12,58,872	₹1,67,23,911
56	₹1,69,318	₹2,43,818	₹2,28,824	₹14,00,844	₹1,85,97,396
57	₹1,77,784	₹2,56,008	₹2,41,014	₹15,56,496	₹2,06,50,914
58	₹1,86,673	₹2,68,809	₹2,53,815	₹17,27,055	₹2,29,00,593
Total		₹42,04,986	₹37,85,154	₹1,49,10,453	₹2,29,00,593

The employer column shows only the part that reaches your fund. The 8.33% diverted to the EPS pension is excluded, and appears in the CSV as a separate column.

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How the EPF corpus is built

Two contributions go in each month, but the employer's share splits before it reaches your fund. Understanding that split is the difference between an accurate projection and one that overstates the corpus by lakhs.

Your share = 12% of wage (+ any VPF)
EPS = 8.33% of min(wage, ₹15,000), capped at ₹1,250
Employer's share to EPF = 12% of wage − EPS
Interest = Monthly balance × (r ÷ 12), credited yearly

wage

EPF wage

Basic pay plus dearness allowance. Allowances and bonuses are excluded.

EPS

Pension scheme diversion

Taken out of the employer's 12%, not added on top. Capped because it is calculated on the ₹15,000 ceiling.

VPF

Voluntary provident fund

An optional extra contribution from you, earning the same rate. The employer does not match it.

EPFO declared rate

Currently 8.25% a year.

On a ₹50,000 basic, the employer contributes ₹6,000 — but only ₹4,750 reaches your fund, with ₹1,250 going to EPS. A calculator that credits the full ₹6,000 to EPF overstates a 28-year projection by well over ₹10 lakh.

Assumptions

The interest rate stays at the figure you enter. EPFO declares it annually and it has drifted down over the past two decades.
Salary grows at a steady annual rate, applied on each 12-month anniversary.
Interest accrues monthly on the running balance and is credited at the end of each year, as EPFO does it.
No withdrawal, transfer gap or period of unemployment interrupts the account.
The EPS portion is tracked separately and excluded from the corpus, because it buys a pension rather than a lump sum.
Gratuity and any employer superannuation contribution are not included — this is the provident fund only.

Frequently asked questions

Answers about the epf calculator.

Both sides contribute 12%, but yours all goes to the provident fund while your employer's is split. Of their 12%, an amount equal to 8.33% of wages up to the ₹15,000 ceiling — a maximum of ₹1,250 a month — is diverted to the Employees' Pension Scheme, and only the remainder reaches your EPF. On a ₹50,000 basic that means you contribute ₹6,000 and your employer effectively adds ₹4,750. The ₹1,250 is not lost; it funds a modest monthly pension from age 58, but it will not appear in your passbook balance.

Related calculators

Continue exploring adjacent tools in this topic.

Guides that explain this

Background reading on the ideas behind these numbers.

Retirement

PPF, EPF or NPS: where should retirement money go?

The three schemes look interchangeable and behave very differently. One is chosen for you, one is entirely voluntary and one hands most of your corpus to an annuity provider. Understanding which is which decides how much you end up with, and how much of it you can spend.

Jul 28, 20269 min read

This tool is provided for educational purposes only. Results are estimates based on the values you enter and do not constitute financial advice.

Age

Monthly basic

You

Employer

Interest

Closing balance

₹50,000

₹72,000

₹57,006

₹5,765

₹1,34,771

₹52,500

₹75,600

₹60,606

₹17,205

₹2,88,182

₹55,125

₹79,380

₹64,386

₹30,200

₹4,62,148

₹57,881

₹83,349

₹68,355

₹44,906

₹6,58,758

₹60,775

₹87,516

₹72,522

₹61,499

₹8,80,297

₹63,814

₹91,892

₹76,898

₹80,167

₹11,29,254

₹67,005

₹96,487

₹81,493

₹1,01,117

₹14,08,351

₹70,355

₹1,01,311

₹86,317

₹1,24,574

₹17,20,553

₹73,873

₹1,06,377

₹91,383

₹1,50,783

₹20,69,096

₹77,566

₹1,11,696

₹96,702

₹1,80,013

₹24,57,506

₹81,445

₹1,17,280

₹1,02,286

₹2,12,556

₹28,89,629

₹85,517

₹1,23,144

₹1,08,150

₹2,48,730

₹33,69,654

₹89,793

₹1,29,302

₹1,14,308

₹2,88,883

₹39,02,146

₹94,282

₹1,35,767

₹1,20,773

₹3,33,391

₹44,92,077

₹98,997

₹1,42,555

₹1,27,561

₹3,82,667

₹51,44,860

₹1,03,946

₹1,49,683

₹1,34,689

₹4,37,159

₹58,66,391

₹1,09,144

₹1,57,167

₹1,42,173

₹4,97,354

₹66,63,085

₹1,14,601

₹1,65,025

₹1,50,031

₹5,63,784

₹75,41,925

₹1,20,331

₹1,73,277

₹1,58,283

₹6,37,025

₹85,10,510

₹1,26,348

₹1,81,940

₹1,66,946

₹7,17,708

₹95,77,105

₹1,32,665

₹1,91,037

₹1,76,043

₹8,06,515

₹1,07,50,700

₹1,39,298

₹2,00,589

₹1,85,595

₹9,04,190

₹1,20,41,075

₹1,46,263

₹2,10,619

₹1,95,625

₹10,11,543

₹1,34,58,862

₹1,53,576

₹2,21,150

₹2,06,156

₹11,29,451

₹1,50,15,618

₹1,61,255

₹2,32,207

₹2,17,213

₹12,58,872

₹1,67,23,911

₹1,69,318

₹2,43,818

₹2,28,824

₹14,00,844

₹1,85,97,396

₹1,77,784

₹2,56,008

₹2,41,014

₹15,56,496

₹2,06,50,914

₹1,86,673

₹2,68,809

₹2,53,815

₹17,27,055

₹2,29,00,593

Total

₹42,04,986

₹37,85,154

₹1,49,10,453

₹2,29,00,593

Assumptions

The interest rate stays at the figure you enter. EPFO declares it annually and it has drifted down over the past two decades.

Salary grows at a steady annual rate, applied on each 12-month anniversary.

Interest accrues monthly on the running balance and is credited at the end of each year, as EPFO does it.

No withdrawal, transfer gap or period of unemployment interrupts the account.

The EPS portion is tracked separately and excluded from the corpus, because it buys a pension rather than a lump sum.

Gratuity and any employer superannuation contribution are not included — this is the provident fund only.

How to use this calculator

Quick facts

Where the corpus comes from

Corpus by age

Year-by-year projection

How the EPF corpus is built

Assumptions

Frequently asked questions

Why is my employer's contribution less than mine?

What is the ₹15,000 wage ceiling and does it apply to me?

Is VPF worth using?

What happens to my EPF when I change jobs?

What pension does the EPS money actually pay?

Is the maturity amount tax-free?

Will my EPF alone be enough to retire on?

Related calculators

Guides that explain this

PPF, EPF or NPS: where should retirement money go?

How to use this calculator

Quick facts

Where the corpus comes from

Corpus by age

Year-by-year projection

How the EPF corpus is built

Assumptions

Frequently asked questions

Why is my employer's contribution less than mine?

What is the ₹15,000 wage ceiling and does it apply to me?

Is VPF worth using?

What happens to my EPF when I change jobs?

What pension does the EPS money actually pay?

Is the maturity amount tax-free?

Will my EPF alone be enough to retire on?

Related calculators

Guides that explain this

PPF, EPF or NPS: where should retirement money go?