EPF Housing Loan & Withdrawal Calculator for Sri Lanka

The EPF Housing Loan Scheme, administered by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka's Employees' Provident Fund Department, allows members to draw against their own EPF balance for housing purposes under Section 23A of the EPF Act No. 15 of 1958 (as amended). The drawing is an advance release of the member's savings — not a loan — so it carries no interest and no repayment obligation, but the released amount stops earning EPF interest from the date of disbursement.

The calculator runs four checks in order, mirroring how the CBSL EPF Department evaluates a Form EPF-H1 application:

1. Service test. The member must have completed at least 60 months of contributions (five years of EPF membership). Anything less and the application is rejected at the Department of Labour stage.
2. Age test. The member must be below the retirement age of 60. Once a member crosses 60, the full EPF balance is already withdrawable under Section 13 of the Act, so the housing scheme becomes moot — use the EPF retirement projection tool instead.
3. Per-purpose rule. The scheme permits one withdrawal per distinct purpose. A member who previously drew for land can still draw again for building or renovation, but not a second time for the same purpose category.
4. Cap by purpose, bound by project cost. Acquisition purposes — land, house or apartment purchase, new build, and mortgage settlement — carry a 75% cap on the current EPF balance. Renovation and extension carry a lower 30% cap. The actual release is whichever is smaller — the cap or the project cost the member has documented.

Where both spouses are EPF members, each spouse's eligibility and cap is evaluated independently. The combined household capacity is the sum of the two individual caps, bound by the same project cost ceiling. If the combined cap exceeds the project cost, the release is allocated proportionally so the residual balances on either side stay coherent. The CBSL guideline expressly permits this household aggregation when both spouses sign the application and the property is jointly owned.

Underlying formula: cap = capRate(purpose) × balance; withdrawable = min(cap_member + cap_spouse, projectCost). The tool computes the figure two different ways — the standard per-member walk and a first-principles cross-check — and renders a “reconciled” flag inside the calculator card. If those two figures ever disagree, do not file the application; email the author and the bug will be fixed within 24 hours.

Each housing purpose has its own evidence set on top of the common documents below. Submit the file in the exact order the EPF Department lists them on Form EPF-H1 — out-of-order files account for most of the back-and-forth that adds weeks to the timeline.

• Employees' Provident Fund Act, No. 15 of 1958 (as amended) — Section 23A on housing withdrawals
• Central Bank of Sri Lanka — EPF Department, Housing Loan Scheme guideline
• Department of Labour — EPF housing benefit circulars and Form EPF-H1 / H2
• Central Bank of Sri Lanka — EPF overview and statutory framework

Caps, eligibility tests, and document checklists on this page were last cross-checked against the CBSL and EPF Department sources on 2026-05-16. The page is reviewed whenever a new EPF Amendment Act, CBSL circular, or revised Form EPF-H1 / H2 is published.