Can I Cancel My Voluntary Provident Fund Anytime? Seeking Government Guidelines and Advice

This is an urgent request to all of you. I nominated myself for VPF in my company last month. Today, I checked my salary, and my company has deducted the VPF as requested. However, I rechecked my 80C and see that I am already crossing the 1 lakh limit. So, I requested them to cancel it from next month as I wanted to withdraw my nomination for VPF. I got the answer from my payroll department that it can only be canceled at the end of the financial year, which I know is not true, and we can request to cancel anytime. My company has a trusted PF department.

Can anybody share the government guidelines where it is mentioned that I can request cancellation at any time? Help is appreciated.

VPF Deduction Flexibility

VPF deduction is totally voluntary, based on the employee's decision. There is no rule stating that it must continue for the entire financial year. It can be withdrawn at any time. Simply write a letter to the Head of HR or personally discuss the matter, requesting the cancellation of VPF deduction effective from the upcoming month onwards. Alternatively, it is advisable to consider reducing the amount to the limited ceiling. The choice is yours.

Regards,
B. Anand Kumar

In my company, a PF of 780 is deducted from everyone. I recently requested to contribute VPF (12% of gross) starting this month. However, the accounts department has informed me that this change cannot be made in the middle of the financial year. Is there a specific rule governing this situation? Please clarify.

Thank you.

VPF Deduction Guidelines

First of all, VPF is always deducted from the Basic salary, not from the Gross salary. VPF can be deducted up to 100% of the Basic salary as per the employee's desire. Please refer to the PF directory on the EPF website for more details.

There is no rule that it should continue for the entire financial year. The accounts department can decide based on the payroll inputs provided by HR. Kindly approach your HR department or the person responsible for PF for more clarification.

Discussion on Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) Contributions

This is indeed a very interesting discussion. It is a fact that neither the Act nor the scheme provides a condition stating that voluntary contributions, once started, must be continued until the end of the financial year. However, the regulations of the Trust may include such a provision, and accordingly, the same is being mandated. Such provisions are common in the case of the majority of Trusts.

Regards