Summary of this article
EPFO’s new rules merge 13 withdrawal categories into three: essential needs, housing needs, and special circumstances.
Members can withdraw for education up to 10 times and for housing up to five times.
Up to 75 per cent of the EPF corpus can be withdrawn after 12 months of membership.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) notified three new schemes on June 29, 2026. The new schemes (the Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 2026, the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS), 2026, and the Employees’ Deposit-Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme, 2026) replaced the old framework of the 1952, 1971, 1995, and 1976 schemes.
Under the new EPF 2026 scheme, a few rules have changed, including the withdrawal rules. Previously, there were 13 categories of expenses, such as medical emergencies, education, marriage, housing, or unemployment, for which a subscriber was allowed to make partial withdrawals and take advances. Now these 13 categories have been consolidated into three categories to make the rules streamlined and withdrawal easier.
The idea is to provide subscribers with faster access to their accumulated funds for certain purposes. In addition to this, it has automated withdrawals for up to Rs 5 lakh, making the process less time-consuming and hassle-free.
Let us check the details of when and how much one can withdraw from EPF under the new rules.
The new rules group the advance withdrawals into three categories:
· Essential needs
· House-related needs
· Special circumstances
Essential Needs
When – According to the EPFO, a subscriber can withdraw money for essential needs, which cover expenses related to illness, education, and marriage.
How much – There is no limit on the number of withdrawals for the purpose of illness of oneself and family. For the education of self or an eligible family member, withdrawal is allowed up to 10 times during membership. And in case of marriage of oneself or an eligible family member, five withdrawals are permitted.
Housing Need
Earlier, there were different subsets like house construction, house renovation, house purchase, etc. Under the new rules, all housing-related expenses are covered under a single category (housing need).
When – One can apply for an advance withdrawal under this category in case of purchasing land, house, or constructing a house, repayment of a home loan, or renovation or improvement of a house.
How much - One is allowed to withdraw up to five times for housing needs.
Special Circumstances
This category is for withdrawal under exceptional circumstances.
When – Under this category, subscribers can withdraw funds under exceptional situations, such as an earthquake, flood, etc., as defined by the EPFO.
How much – It has a limit on the number of withdrawals. It permits only two withdrawals per financial year.
Per the new rules, EPFO allows subscribers partial withdrawal of up to 75 per cent of their EPF corpus, including both employees’ and employers’ contributions. It can be made only after completing 12 months of EPF membership.
And the remaining 25 per cent must always be maintained in the EPF account to ensure that there is always a minimum amount of retirement savings for the subscriber.
The new framework also introduced a faster settlement process by stipulating a ‘three-day settlement’ of claims.
