The Public Provident Fund (PPF) scheme offers accumulation of a corpus and comes with a lock in of 15 years. The subscriber can withdraw and close the account after the lock-in, or continue for another block of five years.
Calculation of maturity
Completion of 15 years of the account takes place from 1 April of the year following the date of opening of the account.
Account closure
Subscriber has to give an application to bank/post offi ce, stating PPF account number and details of bank account in which proceeds have to be credited.
Extension of PPF account without contribution
The PPF account automatically gets extended for a period of 5 years unless the subscriber closes the account. There is no action required from the subscriber. The subscriber continues to earn interest on the balance in the PPF account. However, he cannot make any fresh contributions to the account.
Extension of PPF account with contribution
If the subscriber wishes to continue contributing to the PPF account after its maturity, he must submit Form H to the bank/post offi ce before the end of one year from the maturity date of the PPF account. On choosing this option, the subscriber can make further contributions and continue to get tax benefit under Section 80C.
Points to note
1. One can open a new PPF account after closure of the existing PPF account.
2. Once Form H is submitted for extension of the account with contribution, one can withdraw only up to 60% of the PPF balance at the beginning of 5 year period.
