Finance Minister withdraws provident fund tax proposal

On 8th March 2016, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced to withdraw proposal to tax Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals. 
•    He further stated that government would also like to comprehensively review EPF tax proposal. 
•    But government retained the tax proposal for National Pension Scheme (NPS) withdrawals.
•    The proposal was made by Arun Jaitley while presenting the Union Budget 2016-17 in the Lok Sabha on 29 February 2016. 
•    Proposal said 60 percent of the amount deposited in the EPF account of the employee would be taxable at the time of withdrawal, and 40 percent would be tax free. 
•    It was going to be effective from 1 April 2016.
•    It also said that if the employee re-invested 60 percent of the EPF in an annuity or pension fund then it will not be taxed. 
•    Currently entire amount is tax free at the time of withdrawal if the employee has completed five years of continuous service.
•    The proposal to tax EPF withdrawals was made with an aim of to create a pensioned society, especially among employees in the private sector who have no provision for pension.
•    The EPF is a retirement benefit scheme for salaried employees. 
•    Any company with over 20 employees is required by law to register with the