Atal Pension Yojana Rule Change: The government has changed the rules and conditions to be eligible for its monthly pension programme Atal Pension Yojana. Starting from October 1, any citizen who is or has been an income taxpayer will not be eligible to join the Atal pension scheme. As per a notification from the ministry of finance, if an income tax-paying investor joins the APY scheme on or after October 1, the APY account will be liable to be closed.
Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a pension scheme launched by Government of India is focused on the unorganised sector workers. Under the APY, minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 or Rs 2,000 or Rs 3,000 orRs 4,000 or Rs 5,000 per month will start after attaining the age of 60 years depending on the contributions by the subscribers for their chosen pension amount. However, this service will soon stop being available for everyone.
Here is everything you need to know about the Atal Pension Yojana rule change:
What Does the Government Notification Say?
As per the notification by the Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance, individuals who have been or is currently a part of income tax regime will not be eligible to join the APY scheme.
“Provided that from 1st October 2022, any citizen who is or has been an income-tax payer, shall not be eligible to join APY,” the department said in a notification dated August 10, 2022.
What Will Happen if an Income Tax Payer Still Opens APY?
As mentioned above, if an income tax-paying investor joins the APY scheme on or after October 1, the APY account will be liable to be closed. The accumulated wealth of such account holders will be returned to them in that scenario.
“In case a subscriber, who joined on or after 1st October 2022, is subsequently found to have been an income-tax payer on or before the date of application, the APY account shall be closed and the accumulated pension wealth till date would be given to the subscriber,” the notification said.
Who is Eligible to Join the Atal Pension Yojana?
At present, any citizen of India who is not a minor can join the APY scheme. The following are the eligibility criteria, as per the NSDL website:
(i) The age of the subscriber should be between 18 and 40 years.
(ii) He / She should have a savings bank account/ post office savings bank account
The prospective applicants may provide mobile number to the bank during their
“Enrolments under APY to receive periodic updates on their APY account as well as on APY scheme. Aadhaar may also be provided at the time of enrolment as APY scheme is notified for the same,” as per the scheme.
What Should Income Tax Payers do now?
As per the notification, new entrants who are income taxpayers will not be eligible to join Atal Pension Yojana from October 1. This means that if taxpayers want to have an APY account, he or she will have to open it by September 30.
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