SCSS Scheme Eligibility: Will a private sector employee be allowed to invest in Senior Citizen Savings Scheme 2019? This was a query raised by an employee to the Department of Posts under the Ministry of Communications. In order to clarify the matter, the department recently issued a note regarding the eligibility for the opening of Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) accounts. The clarification reads that the SCSS 2019 rule doesn’t specify the category of employer and hence any investor fulfilling the conditions laid out in the scheme is allowed to open SCSS account in the post office of his choice.

According to the communication, a post office savings bank account holder, formerly employed with Abbott Healthcare, Tanjore had sought for clarification through email whether he being a retired from a private company and 58 years of age is eligible to open SCSS account.

The Department states that a detailed procedure related to the opening of SCSS accounts have been laid down in Senior Citizen Savings Scheme under Rule 3 (ii) of Senior Citizen Savings Scheme 2019 that specifies, “an individual who has attained the age of fifty-five years or more but less than sixty years, and who has retired on superannuation or otherwise on the date of opening of an account under this Scheme is eligible to open the account, subject to the condition that the account is opened by such individual within one month of the date of receipt of the retirement benefits and proof of date of disbursal of such retirement benefit(s) along with a certificate from the employer.”

The rule is not specific to any category of employer and, therefore, anyone can deploy the retirement corpus in the SCSS. Any customer fulfilling the conditions laid out in the Scheme is allowed to open SCSS account in the post office of his choice.

Source : Financial Express