New Delhi, April 29 -- Typically, all salaried individuals contribute at least 12% of their salary to the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) account, and their employer matches the contribution. Employees can even voluntarily contribute up to 100% of their salary to EPF, but employers are mandatorily required to only match up to 12%. The contributions made to EPF then compounds at a rate declared by the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) every year. EPF earned an interest of 8.65% during financial year 2018-19. Not only is the interest that EPF offers usually higher compare to other fixed income instruments, contribution of up to Rs.1.5 lakh to your EPF account also qualifies for tax deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The interest accrued is tax free only after five years. If you keep your EPF investment intact till retirement, what you get on retirement is completely exempt from tax. But remember that if you delay withdrawing your EPF corpus, any interest earned on the EPF balance post retirement is taxable. Read on to understand why the amount becomes taxable....