The National Pension Scheme (NPS) is a retirement plan supported by the government. The scheme was first introduced to government workers in January 2004. It was, however, made accessible to all sections in 2009. Throughout their working lives, participants of the plan are permitted to make regular contributions to a pension account.

In addition to withdrawing a portion of the accumulated pension wealth as a lump sum, if they so desire, the subscribers may use the accumulated pension wealth under the scheme to buy a life annuity from a PFRDA-empaneled life insurance business at the time of normal retirement from NPS. The lead organization for implementing and overseeing NPS is PFRDA. Do you know the entire pension amount is tax free

Who all can join?

Any Indian citizen between the ages of 18 and 60 can enroll in the National Pension Scheme NPS. The individual must adhere to know your customer (KYC) standards as the only requirement. 

A NRI can also be a participant of an NPS scheme. However if there is any change in the citizenship status the account will be shut down.

 How to Join NPS?

You need to open an NPS account with Point of Presence organizations (POP). The majority of banks, both private and public, are registered as POPs. Many banking organizations serve as POPs as well. The collecting points are the authorized POP branches, also known as POP-SPs (point of presence service providers).

They are available on the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority’s website (PFRDA). https://www.npscra.nsdl.co.in/pop-sp.php

Benefits of joining NPS

• Low Cost: According to experts, NPS is the world’s least expensive pension plan. The lowest fees are for administration and fund management. The applicant only needs to open an account with any of the POPs offered by the Head Post Offices in India to obtain a Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN)
• Flexible: To maximize results, the applicant can choose his or her own investing strategy and pension fund, or they can select Auto.
• Portable: The applicant can manage an account from any location in the nation and make contributions through any POP-SPs, regardless of the POP-SP branch with which the applicant is registered, even if he or she changes their city, employment, or other details. They can also make contributions through eNPS.

Tax Benefits

The NPS scheme comes with few tax benefits listed below-

• Section 80CCD allows for a maximum of INR 1,50,000. (1). Additionally, the benefit is limited to 10% of the base wage. The maximum benefit under Sections 80C, 80CCC, and 80CCD(1) is INR 1,50,000.
• Contribution Section 80CCD allows up to Rs. 50,000. (1B). This goes beyond the Section 80C tax benefit. [43]
• Employee tax-free income under Section 80CCD includes employer co-contributions up to 10% of basic and DA without a dollar limit (2).