'EPF tax withdrawal big victory for 2.5 lakh people'

New Delhi: With the government agreeing on withdrawal of the controversial EPF tax, online petition platform Change.Org on Tuesday termed it as a big victory for nearly 2.5 lakh people who had signed an online petition against the taxation move.

The petition, which was started by a finance professional from Gurgaon, Vaibhav Aggarwal, had got the support of over 2.5 lakh people who sought urgent and immediate withdrawal of EPF tax that was announced in the Budget.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced in Parliament that the proposal to tax Employee Provident Fund (EPF) has been withdrawn.

Jaitley had in his Budget 2016-17 proposed to tax withdrawal of 60 percent of accumulations in the Employee Provident Fund after April 1, 2016. This was criticised by all employee unions as well as political parties.

"In view of representations received, the government would like to do a comprehensive review of this proposal and therefore, I withdraw the proposal," Jaitley said in a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha.

He, however, stated that 40 percent exemption given to a National Pension Scheme (NPS) subscriber at the time of withdrawal remains.

Aggarwal, petition starter on Change.Org, said, "We thank the Prime Minister and Finance Minister for taking our concerns into consideration and withdrawing the proposal. Nearly 2.5 lakh people joined me on Change.Org to appeal that this proposal be rolled back and the government responded with great proactiveness."

Preethi Herman, Head, Change.Org India, said, "This is a true example of participative democracy. Vaibhav voiced his concern on Change.Org as a single person. He was joined by lakhs of Indians and today, the government has listened to them. This is a great day for our democracy."