National Pension Scheme (NPS) has always appealed to people who are in the know of it because of its simplicity, flexibility and transparency. To this, one can add the fact that you get to invest in higher growth investment options such as equities which allow you to save more for retirement. However, while government employees who joined from 2004 onwards have their mandatory retirement savings in NPS, it is optional for others. With their mandatory investments going into Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF), many people wished that their mandatory retirement investments got the benefits of NPS. Now, that wish has come true. Now, it is possible to transfer funds from a recognised provident fund to the National Pension Scheme (NPS). The new guidelines say that the amount transferred will not be considered as income for the current year and will not be taxable. Here are the steps involved in transfer from EPF to NPS.
Step 1 To begin with, you should have an active NPS Tier 1 account. You can either open it through your employer, banks registered as Points of Presence (POP) or online through the NPS portal enps.nsdl.com.
Step 2 The next step is to make the request for transfer of provident fund (PF). You need to approach the recognised PF or superannuation trust fund through your current employer. You need to make a request to transfer the PF or superannuation balance to your NPS account.
Step 3 After you application is received, the PF or superannuation trust will initiate the transfer of balance from PF or superannuation fund to your NPS account
Step 4 As a private sector PF subscribers, you will need to ensure that the cheque is issued in the name of POP (name of the POP) Collection Account-NPS Trust<>Subscriber Name<>PRAN (12 Digit No.)
Private sector employers will need to make a request to the recognised PF or superannuation fund to issue a letter to either the present employer or the POPmentioning that amount is being transferred from the recognised provident fund/ superannuation fund to be credited in the NPS account of the employee/individual Tier I account, The POP will collect the amount and the same will be transferred.With these steps, you will able to give your mandatory retirement savings the boost it has long deserved.