Govt keeps taxpayers out of Atal Pension cover

New Delhi: Income-Tax (I-T) payers will not be allowed to enrol in the government's social security scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) from October 1, according to a notification. The government introduced APY on June 1, 2015, to provide social security to workers mainly in the unorganised sector.

Subscribers of the scheme get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs1,000 to Rs5,000 per month after attaining 60 years of age depending on their contributions. "From October 1,2022, any citizen who is or has been an income tax payer, shall not be eligible to join APY," the finance ministry said in the notification.

The ministry has modified its earlier notification on APY. The new notification, issued on Wednesday, will not apply to subscribers who have joined or joins the scheme before October 1, 2022. In case a subscriber, who joined on or after October 1, 2022, is subsequently found to have been an income tax payer on or before the date of application, the APY account shall be closed.