Check Your EPF Account Balance In 6 Easy Steps

Do you know the total accumulated balance in your employee’s provident fund (EPF)? In case you are keen to know the balance and are unable to do so, it is an easy process if you have been allotted an Universal Account Number (UAN) by the EPFO.

 In case you do not have your 12-digit UAN, you can get it activated through your employer to know the summary of PF deducted through EPFO portal. All employees need to have only one UAN throughout their working life irrespective of the number of companies they change. It is a universal account number (UAN) which facilitates in linking of multiple EPF accounts of a member.

To see your EPFO account and view your provident fund passbook online, you need to follow these simple steps:

Step 1

Employees need to login the member portal by visiting the EPFO website (unifiedportalmem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/). You need to enter your 12 digit Activated UAN number and the password to view your account details. If you have not activated your UAN, you can also activate it by clicking on the tab below. Once you have entered the right credentials, it takes four days to activate your UAN.

Step 2

Once you have entered into the portal, you can find all kind of online services that are available on the EPFO website. From there you can track your queries related to claim status, transferring request, which is required in case your current employer has created another UAN number to track your PF account.

Step 3

You can see various tabs present on the dark green ribbon above. Clicking on the ‘view’ tab will take you to visit your profile, service history, UAN card and your passbook address. This passbook address is a separate website link where you can view your PF account.

Step 4

To view your PF passbook, you need to visit epfindia.gov.in website. This is a different website where you can view various other details related to EPFO. You need to go to the ‘our service’ tab and under our service tab, you need to click on the ‘for employees’ link. To view the EPF contributions done by your employer every month you need to then click on the ‘member passbook’ link.

Step 5

After clicking on the member passbook link, you will be redirected to a separate tab, where you need to re-enter your activated UAN and the same EPFO passwords which you used it for the EPFO member login portal.

Step 6

Once you have entered your credentials, you can visit your EPF passbook and view your PF contribution made by the company.

The government has come up with various other benefits where they are giving special benefits to employees who had to leave their current job due to some physical incapacitation. If you want visit the office, you may even locate the nearest EPFO office through this EPFO website, you can also view the eligibility for making online claims and obtain lots more service facilities through this online portal.

One should also know that the accumulated amount is payable on retirement, resignation or death. You can also make partial withdrawals for financing life insurance policies, acquiring a house, wedding of self or dependents, child’s education planning or any treatment of illness etc.

Penalty Provision in respect of delay in payment of P.F. dues

Penalty Provision in respect of delay in payment of P.F. dues
1.        Delay in deposit of P.F. dues attracts penal damages. Damages are levied at the following
           FLAT RATES:

• For 0 — 2 months delay – @ 5 % p.a.
• For 2 — 4 months delay – @10 % p.a.
• For 4 — 6 months delay – @ 15 % p.a.
• For delay above 6 months – @ 25 % p.a. (subject to a maximum of 100%)

2.        Levy of damages at lesser rates is not permissible under the EPF & MP Act.
3.        Reduction/Waiver of damages – considered only for Sick Industrial Companies having   
           rehabilitation scheme sanctioned by BIFR.

4.        Deposit dues in time – avoid penal damages.

Latest Rules On Provident Fund Withdrawal You Should Know: 10 Facts

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been taking many steps to ease the process of provident fund (PF) money withdrawal. The PF money can be withdrawn after two months from the cessation of employment. The application form can be filed with the PF authorities or through the employer. PF is meant for saving towards retirement years. Financial planners advise not to withdraw from the corpus before retirement. According to provident fund norms, 12 per cent of an employee's salary goes into the fund along with a matching contribution from the employer. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation every year announces interest rate to be paid on the accumulated provident fund corpus.

Here are 10 things to know:

1) To encourage long-term savings, the government has formulated tax laws accordingly. If the withdrawal from a recognised PF happens after five years of continuous employment, it attracts no tax liability. In case of employment with different employers, if the PF balance maintained with the old employer is transferred to the PF account of the new employer, it is considered a continuous employment.

2) If an employee has been terminated because of certain reasons beyond his or her control (such as ill health and discontinuation of business of employer), the withdrawal does not attract any tax, irrespective of the number of years of employment.

3) In case of a withdrawal before five years, the amount becomes taxable in the same financial year. Thus, the amount has to be shown in your tax return for the next assessment year. The employer's contribution to PF and interest earned on it is added to one's income and taxed accordingly.

4) In addition, if you have claimed benefits under Section 80C on your own PF contribution, it will be taxed as salary. The interest earned on your own contribution will be taxed as 'income from other sources' and taxed according to the respective tax slabs.

5) TDS (tax deducted at source) - If the withdrawal is after a period of five years of continuous employment, it attracts no TDS or any tax. What happens if the period of service is less than five years? If PAN has not been submitted to the EPFO authorities, TDS is deducted at 30 per cent. If PAN has been submitted along with Form 15G/15H, no TDS is deducted. If form 15G/15H is not submitted and PAN is submitted, TDS @ 10% is deducted. Form 15H or 15G is meant to prevent TDS for those whose income falls below the taxable limit.

6) The funds transferred from a recognised provident fund (PF) account to a National Pension System (NPS) account will not attract any tax, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said in a circular dated March 6. "The amount so transferred from recognised Provident Fund/Superannuation Fund to NPS is not treated as income of the current year and hence not taxable," the pension fund regulator said.

7) The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has come out with a single-page form for provident fund related claims - from provident/pension fund withdrawal to the advance facility.

8) In addition, an Employees' Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO subscribers can submit the new one-page form directly to the retirement fund body without the employer's attestation if their accounts are seeded with Aadhaar and bank account details.

9) For subscribers who are yet to seed Aadhaar and bank details, a new composite claim form has been introduced which has to be submitted with attestation of employers for any claims.

10) Also, no other document would be required to be submitted by the subscriber for taking advances from the provident fund corpus. A provident fund subscriber can go for partial withdrawal/advance from his or her corpus for specific purposes like purchase of flat, construction, marriage/education of children etc.

EPFO likely to announce PF rate for FY18 next month 

New Delhi, Jul 6:  Retirement fund body EPFO is likely to announce the interest rate on PF deposits for this fiscal at its trustee meeting slated for next month.

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had lowered the rate of return for its over 4.5 crore subscribers to 8.65 per cent for 2016-17, from 8.8 per cent in 2015-16.

"After discussing in the Central Board of Trustees meeting, my ministry will take a decision. I am going to call a meeting shortly. The meeting will happen next month," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told reporters when asked about the decision on EPF interest rate for this fiscal.

The minister further said, "Last time, I gave 8.65 per cent and this year, our rate of return has come 13.3 per cent on equity investments. The CBT will propose a rate of interest based on income projection for this fiscal. Then, as its chairman, we will take the decision."

There is a buzz that the interest rate on EPF can be further lowered by around 25 basis points, or 0.25 percentage point, for the current fiscal from 8.65 per cent for 2016-17 in view of a falling yield on securities or bonds where the body invests bulk of its funds.

Yesterday, however, the minister had said the EPFO was in the process of working out income projections for the current fiscal which would then become the basis for fixing the rate of return for 2017-18.

A member of the EPFO's advisory body Finance Investment and Audit Committee (FAIC) has also confirmed that the panel is likely to deliberate on the proposal next month.

As per practice, the FAIC firms up the proposal on interest rate and places it before the CBT for approval. Once approved by the CBT, concurrence is sought from the finance ministry before the figure is made public.

The ministry has been pitching for aligning EPF interest rate with that of small savings rates administered by it.

The interest on small saving schemes like PPF has been reduced by 10 basis points, or 0.10 percentage point, for the July-September quarter.

EPF: CREATE TEXT FILE, NEW ADMIN CHARGES & ECR UPLOAD PROCESS IN UNIFIED...

EPFO, HUDCO to ink pact for housing subsidy under PMAY

New Delhi, Jun 21 Retirement fund body EPFO will sign tomorrow a pact with the Housing and Urban Development Corp (HUDCO) to enable members of its housing scheme to avail subsidy and interest subvention under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

Under the housing scheme, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) allows its subscribers from societies for withdrawing up to 90 per cent of their EPF accumulations to buy homes.

"As part of the government commitment for 'housing for all by 2022', the EPFO is signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HUDCO on June 22, 2017," an official statement said.

According to statement the MoU will be signed in the presence of Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister M Venkaiah Naidu.

Talking about the pact, EPFO's Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy told that the agreement is regarding coverage of EPFO subscribers under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana by providing them various benefits like cheaper loans for buying homes.

Last month Dattatreya had made it clear that the EPFO will not construct houses for its subscribers but would act as a facilitator so that the members can buy homes.

The labour ministry intends to facilitate at least 10 lakh subscribers in the next two years by allowing them to use 90 per cent of EPF accumulations to make down payments to buy houses and use their accounts for paying EMIs of home loans.

In April this year, the EPFO had amended the EPF Scheme to enable the subscribers to make down payment to buy homes and pay EMIs through the EPF account.

The minister had said, "The scheme (withdrawal of 90 per cent of EPF) will be aligned with the Urban Development Ministry (programmes) and other organisations because the Centre is also giving subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh to weaker sections (to buy houses)."

He was of the view that since the government is also providing interest subsidy for certain sections of people for buying houses and all benefits can be clubbed together.

The HUDCO is a nodal agency for implementation of credit linked subsidy scheme for middle and lower-income groups and economically weaker section under the PMAY.

PF Admin Charges reduced from 0.85% to 0.65% and EDLI Admin Charges waived by EPFO w.e.f. 1 Apr. 2017

The expenditure incurred in administering the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI), etc., are met from the administrative and inspection charges collected from the employers. Earlier, the PF Admin charges were reduced from 1.10% to 0.85% w.e.f. 1 Jan. 2015, which has been reduced further to 0.65% by EPFO w.e.f. 1 Apr. 2017. Besides, EDLI Admin charges are no longer payable (i.e. waived) w.e.f. 1 Apr. 2017.

PF/ EDLI Admin Charges reduced to 0.65%/ Nil:  EPFO Circular dt. 22 Mar. 2017

PF Admin Charges reduced to .65%: Govt. Notification dt. 15 Mar. 2017

EDLI Admin Charges waived: Govt. Notification dt. 15 Mar. 2017

With new online system in place, PF claims to be settled within 20 days

Under an overhauled online system, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation is gearing up to settle PF claims within 20 days of application in the new fiscal.

Employee’s provident fund (EPF) subscribers can expect a smooth, online process to settle their claims in the new financial year.

The retirement fund body will roll out a fully online process under which a retired employee will just have fill up the form online and the money will be transferred straight to his bank account.

“We may introduce the facility for online submission of all types of applications and claims like EPF withdrawal and pension settlement by May this year,” EPFO’s Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy said.

Under the proposed scheme, the claims are expected to be settled within 20 days of submitting the form.

After the overhaul in the claims process of the EPF — the lifeline of retired workers — the time in processing the application and disbursing the money to the subscribers’ account has considerably reduced.

“Earlier, there were a lot of complaints about delay. People used to wait for 4-5 months. They also had to pay Rs 10,000- 15,000 for speedy disbursal. Those days are over,” says DL Sachdeva, national secretary of AITUC.

For past few months, the office of the AITUC, a leftist trade union, has hardly received complaints from its workers over delay in EPF claims.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has also introduced a new system whereby claims can be submitted directly to the PF office without attestation of employers.

It has also come out with a Composite Claim Forms (CCF) that has just one page.

“The credit for early settlement of dues goes entirely to computerisation,” said CITU general secretary Tapan Sen. Ironically, his party CPI(M) had vehemently opposed computerisation in the 1980’s.

“In places where the claims process has been fully computerised, the subscribers get money early. but the EPFO is yet to make its entire process computerised,” Sen observed.

The fund body is linking the Aadhar numbers of all pensioners and subscribers to their respective EPF numbers.

Partial withdrawal of PF fund — a common occurrence to meet family exigencies — has also become easier. There is no need for subscribers to submit utilisation certificate. Also, for withdrawals for marriage, no documents including marriage cards are required.

“Submission of CCF (aadhar) and CCF (non-Aadhar) duly signed by the EPF subscriber shall be construed as ‘self-certification for the above partial withdrawals for which no documents would be required to be submitted to the EPFO offices,” a recent government order said.

GUIDELINES AND ONLINE EPF WITHDRAWAL PROCESS WITHOUT EMPLOYER SIGNATURE

EPF members can make online claim using UAN interface: Here are 5 things to know

All EPF members who have activated their Universal Account Number (UAN) and have also seeded their Aadhaar-linked KYC with EPFO will be able to apply for PF final settlement, pension withdrawal benefit and PF part withdrawal from their UAN interface directly.

All EPF members who have activated their Universal Account Number (UAN) and have also seeded their Aadhaar-linked KYC with EPFO will be able to apply for PF final settlement (Form19), pension withdrawal benefit (Form10-C) and PF part withdrawal (Form31) from their UAN interface directly.

The three forms – Form 19, Form 31, and Form 10-C — together form more than 80 percent of EPFO’s claim workload.

Here are 5 things to know about making online claims through UAN interface:

Make direct claims

Throughout the online process, EPF members can make claims directly. The members neither need to interact with the employer, nor with the EPFO field office to submit the online claim. Any claim submitted by the member will flow in soft form to EPFO database where it will be processed and then the member’s bank account will get credited.

Correction in Name of PF Member

Correction in Name of PF Member: Provision in Application Software

EPFO has made a provision for change the name of EPF members in the application software. Members who wish to get their name to be changed in the EPF Database can apply for the same through their employer alongwith supporting documents. In this regard a circular has already been issued to the field offices mentioning the supporting documents and the process flow.

Division has made a provision in the Application Software for correction in the name, Father/spouse name and Date of Birth of a Provident Fund member in the WAR release 4.27. Tm this regard, the correction in the name, father/spouse name of the member is to be made only on receipt of joint request of the employee as well as the employer along with supporting documents.

Download the name correction form from below link, fill it and submit to your employer with supporting documents.


The documents may be any of the following:-

1 . PAN Card
2. Voters Identity Card
3. Passport
4. Driving Licence
5. ESIC Identity Card
6. Aadhaar Card
7. Bank Pass Book Copy/Post Office Passbook.
8. Ration Card
9. Any School/education related Certificate
10. Certificate issued by Registrar of Birth & Death
11. Certificate based on the service records of the Central/State Government Organization
12. Copy of electricity /water/telephone bill in the name of the claimant
13. Letter from a recognized public authority or public servant verifying the identity and residence of the member to satisfaction of the competent authority.

In all such cases, correction in the name may be approved by RPFC-II/OIC of SRO or RPFC-II (F&A) of RO, as the case may be.

Notification: Download

Name correction form: Download

How to submit your EPF claim online

UAN, Aadhaar, bank account details and a registered, active mobile phone number—that’s what you need to submit a provident fund claim online

Once known as a sleepy sluggish institution, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been on an overdrive in the past few months in an attempt to become more user friendly. Among its most recent changes is that you can now submit a claim online. This process was earlier mired in paperwork and delay. This comes soon after EPFO introduced a composite claim form for submitting withdrawal requests, and did away with the need to submit supporting documents and certificates for partial withdrawals.

Making the claims process online is expected to reduce the time taken to process a claim. “With this, we hope to reduce the turnaround time from 20 days to 10 days. Even as the subscriber places the request electronically, the process is still manual at our end,” said V.P. Joy, central provident fund commissioner, EPFO. The process is now live on the EPFO website.

Here’s a look at what you need to do before submitting a claim online, based on the process explained to us by EPFO officials. Whether this works or not, is still to be tested.

Basic requirements

If you want to go online for your claims, you should have activated your Universal Account Number (UAN). Also, the mobile phone number you used to activate UAN should be in use. You need to seed your Aadhaar details into the EPFO database so that electronic know-your-customer (e-KYC) verification can take place through a one-time password, which the Aadhaar authority will send, when you submit the claim. You can proceed only if you have registered or linked your Aadhaar. Otherwise, the website will prompt you to link your Aadhaar with UAN.

Apart from this, you also need to input your bank account details so that once the claim is settled, the money can be transferred online to the account.

“We have about four crore (40 million) contributing members. Out of this, about 1.8 crore (18 million) have Aadhaar and bank account linked with UAN,” said Joy.

If you have not been an EPFO member for at least 5 years, you also need to seed your permanent account number (PAN). “Only those individuals whose Aadhaar information has been verified and three data entries match—name, date of birth and gender—will be eligible to use the online claim service,” said Joy.

So, do the background work if you have a claim coming anytime soon. The Aadhaar-based composite claim form will be used for online claim submission.

In February 2017, the EPFO introduced a single-page claim form subsuming the erstwhile Forms 19, 10C and 31 for complete withdrawal, pension withdrawal benefit and partial withdrawals, respectively. But there are two types of composite form: Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar.

Online Claim Submission

You can submit your claim online using the Aadhaar composite claim form. The online version will be pre-filled with your basic information since you would be able to access it only after logging in to the EPF member portal. You will then have to select the type of withdrawal you wish to make.

While the forms that were there earlier are no longer used, the types of withdrawals remain the same, and each has its own set of conditions that need to be fulfilled to avail a withdrawal.

Final settlement: For final settlement (for which you needed to fill Form 19 earlier), you will need to provide the date of joining and date of exit (last date of employment). This should be available in the EPFO database. You should not be working at the time of submission of the claim in an establishment that is covered under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

A claim for final settlement can be submitted only after 2 months of the last date of employment.

Partial withdrawal: Form 31 was used for this earlier. Your date of joining should be available in the EPFO database.

Pension withdrawal benefit: This was earlier done under Form 10C. Your total period of service should be more than 6 months. These conditions are in addition to those required for a final settlement. Also note, these rules are for withdrawal of the amount that goes from your employer’s contribution to the Employees’ Pension Scheme corpus.

Once you make your selection and are eligible for a particular withdrawal based on EPFO database, you will have to authenticate your KYC through an OTP. You will receive the password on the mobile number registered for Aadhaar with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Also remember that you can get the payment from EPFO for your claim only into the bank account registered with it and which is shown in your UAN member interface. If, for some reason, you want to use some other bank account to get the claim, do not submit the claim online; use the physical process instead, or get the bank account details changed through your current employer.

Do remember that if you have been an EPF member for less than 5 continuous years, the maturity corpus is taxable and you will also need to furnish proof of PAN. If you are making the claim offline, fill the form and submit it along with a cancelled cheque, without employer’s certification.

The online claim process is not available to those who do not have Aadhaar. The non-Aadhaar composite claim form needs more details like date of birth, father’s name and bank account details. Apart from your signature, it has to be certified by your employer.

BASIC ABOUT EPF

What is EPF?

You may know it as that annoying, elusive chunk of your monthly salary that you aren’t able to spend. So what is it, and where does it go?

Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) is a retirement benefit scheme that’s available to all salaried employees. This fund is maintained and overseen by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation of India (EPFO) and any company with over 20 employees is required by law to register with the EPFO.

It’s a savings platform that helps employees save a fraction of their salary every month that can be used in the event that you are rendered unable to work, or upon retirement.

Provident Fund Deduction from Salary:

When you start working, you and your employer both contribute 12% of your basic salary (plus dearness allowances, if any) into your EPF account . The entire 12% of your contribution goes into your EPF account along with 3.67% (out of 12%) from your employer, while the balance 8.33% from your employer’s side is diverted to your EPS (Employee’s Pension Scheme) . It’s important to note that if your basic pay is above Rs. 15,000 per month, your employer can only contribute 8.33% of 15,000 (i.e. Rs. 1,250) to your EPS and the balance goes into your EPF account.

These funds are pooled together from many employees like yourself and invested by a trust. This generates an interest of 8% - 12%, which is decided by the government and the central board of trustees. The annual interest rate is available on the official EPF India website, and is currently at 8.65%.

EPF is active every time you receive your pay. If you’re changing jobs, it’s important to also update your EPF information with your new company, giving them your UAN number so that they can continue the contribution.

Interest on EPF:

The compound interest that’s decided upon by the government and central board of trustees is paid on the amount standing to the credit of the employee as on the 1st of April every year.

While your contributions are made monthly, the interest is calculated yearly. At the start of every year, you have an opening balance (which is the amount accumulated till that point). Your opening balance for the next year would be: opening balance + total monthly contributions + interest on the (old opening balance + contribution) .

It’s important to note that interest will only accumulate on your EPF balance and not on the funds that your EPS balance, as EPS is a pension scheme.

Tax Benefits:

The employer contribution to your EPF is tax-free, and your contribution is tax-deductible under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The money you invest in EPF, the interest earned and the money you eventually withdraw after the mandatory specified period (5 years) are exempt from Income Tax.

What if I don’t want to pay PF?

Well, chances are that you’ve already started your professional career. The only time you can opt out of the EPF program is at the start of your career, when you tell your first boss that you don’t want to be a part of it and fill out Form 11 . If you’ve contributed towards EPF even once and have an account created in your name, you cannot opt out of this scheme.

Don’t worry though, as even though opting out of the EPF scheme increases your in-hand salary, it’s the easiest way to build a retirement fund. Having a little less spending power now could mean financial stability later. With the pooling of funds from you and your employer and the relatively high interest rates, you could be on your way to building a strong corpus of funds, without even realising it.

So how do I find out how much I’ve got saved?

All your EPF details are available on the EPF India website. With the introduction of the UAN (Universal Account Number), you can now access all EPFO facilities online. You can also check your EPF details with your EPF account number.

Money gets credited for me into an account. When can I withdraw it?

Withdrawals are generally not allowed from your EPF account, unless you’ve given up working or want to be self-employed, etc. As per the rules, you can withdraw money from this account only if you have no job at the time you apply for a withdrawal and a waiting period of 2 months has passed. You’ll need to fill a declaration with a reason for the same. To withdraw your EPF balance, you’ll need to fill in Form 19 , sign it and have it attested by your former employer (or your bank manager/gazetted officer in case your former employer is uncooperative). You will need to submit this form along with a letter stating that you are relieved from your services to the company and a cancelled cheque from your savings bank account to the EPFO of your jurisdiction.

There are ways that you can navigate your way out of the mandatory 2 month waiting period, if you want your EPF amount immediately. Employees planning to settle abroad, or those who have landed jobs in a foreign country are eligible to receive PF withdrawal immediately after registration. You’ll need to submit proofs like a copy of your VISA or employment letter, as the case may be.

A lesser known waiver to the waiting period is that a female employee can withdraw her PF money if she is leaving service for the purpose of getting married. The proof for submission here can be your marriage certificate, or even your wedding invitation card. You can withdraw a portion of your EPF savings for the purpose of:

• Marriage or education of yourself, your siblings, or children.
• Addressing emergency medical expenses for yourself, spouse, children, or dependant parents.
• Repaying housing loans for a house owned by you, a spouse, or jointly by both of you. You can do this only after 10 years of service and contribution to EPF.
• Paying the costs of alterations/repairs to your existing home. You’ll need to have been in service and contributing for 5 years for alterations and 10 for repairs.
• If you’ve completed 7 years of service, you can withdraw 50% of your EPF contribution up to 3 times in your working life.

So what’s the big picture?

It’s recommended not to touch your EPF unless you’re in dire straits and have no other avenue through which you can acquire the funds you need in an emergency. EPF offers you an incredibly risk-free, secure and protected investment for your retirement. You can also opt to contribute more than the minimum 12% towards your EPF , but this is voluntary and the extra contribution does not need to be matched by your employer. While this effectively reduces your in-hand salary at the end of the month, it will be useful in the future.

EPF Contribution Breakup with Example:

Let’s look at this with a basic example:

Mr. SHARMA starts working with a basic salary of Rs. 20,000, and receives a 5% increment in salary every year.

He has worked for 35 years (starting at age 20, up to age 60) and has contributed 12% of his basic salary, which has been matched by his employer as 3.67% to EPF and 8.33% to EPS.

His total contribution in 35 working years has been Rs. 26.01 lakh and the company has contributed Rs. 7.95 lakh, making it a total contribution of Rs. 33.96 lakh.

This amount will grow to a total of Rs. 1.38 crore at the time of his retirement! (Assuming the rate of interest stays constant at 8.5%).

EPF withdrawal without employer signature

On realizing that getting the approval or attestation of an employer to facilitate a PF withdrawal has caused quite a bit of trouble for many employees, the EPFO has circumvented the process and now employees can make withdrawals without the attestation of their employers. The introduction of the UAN in the EPF had brought about this change, as now, employees just have to link their Aadhaar card to their UAN to make a withdrawal. Having said that, now making a withdrawal without the signature of the employer has two ways - with or without an Aadhaar card.

With an Aadhaar card:

• Now just by linking the employee’s Aadhaar card to his/her UAN, the whole process of getting the signature of one’s employer has been skipped for good.
• To facilitate a smooth process, employees should make sure that their Aadhaar card details and bank details are embedded in the EPFO’s member portal.
• The employer should have verified both - the Aadhaar card and the bank details.
• The employee has to make sure that his/her UAN has been activated before starting the process of making a withdrawal.
• Once you have met these conditions, download Form 19- UAN (for making PF withdrawals) and Form 10C- UAN (for making withdrawals from one’s pension scheme).
• Now, enter your name, address, registered mobile number, PAN card number, and the employee’s reason for leaving and date of joining. The employee should make sure that the details match that on one’s Aadhaar card and bank details. Any discrepancies could lead to a rejection of the application or a delay.
• Next, the employee should attach a cancelled cheque to the form and submit it to the regional EPF office.

Making a withdrawal without an Aadhaar Card:

• This process could be a little of an inconvenience, but if it is your last resort, then follow the process mentioned below.
• The employee should download the Form 19, Form 31 or Form 10C from the EPFO’s member portal, depending on where the withdrawal is going to made from.
• Once filled, the form has to be attested by an authorised signatory, such as a Gazetted officer, manager of a bank, magistrate, etc. While doing so, the authorized signatory has to sign every page of the form.
• Since you’ll have to state a reason for not getting the employer’s signature, state “Non-cooperation”.
• Next, the employer will have to attach an indemnity bond with a 100 Rupee stamp paper, attach one’s payslips, employment ID, appointment letter and Form 19.
• As a proof of address and identity, submit your regular KYC documents along with the attested form and cancelled cheque and the other papers of verification at the regional EPF office.

EPF customer care

For those employees wishing make queries regarding their PF account, be a delay in a claim being raised, discrepancies with regard to their contributions, inability to make a withdrawal and so on, the EPFO has a dedicated customer care service. For the those who are new to the EPF, follow the steps to find the EPFO’s customer care toll free number:

• Log on to the EPFO’s member portal
• On the top of the page, click on the ‘Contact Us’ button
• Once you have done that, the EPFO’s customer care toll free number will be displayed - based on the region the employer is located in.

EPFO digital signature

To make the process of transfer claims easier and transparent, the EPFO has introduced the digital signature of employers. Now, employers can approve claims by using their digital signatures. When an employer shifts organisations, his transfer claim has to be attested by either his previous employer or the present one, and this is when the digital signature of the employer comes into play. Back then, employers had to fill Form 13 and get it signed by their employers and then submit it to the regional EPF office. Now, the process has been simplified and can be done on the EPFO’s member portal. To have a digital signature, employers have to apply for a digital certificate- which contains their personal details such as name, email ID, APNIC account name, public key and the country of the employer. The digital certificate is issued by the Certifying authority and contains this identification key contains their required details that will be embedded in the EPFO’s member portal.

Idle EPF account will earn interest

On April 1, 2011, the government of India decided against adding interest to EPF accounts that have been inoperable for 36 months or more. That meant, that despite the fact that some employees had money on their PF accounts, yet were inoperable, no interest was added to their funds. On November 11, 2016, the government reversed their decision and now, even inoperable EPF accounts will reap the benefits of having interest against it. As of 2015-2016, the interest added to EPF accounts was at 8.8% per annum. This applies to employees who have not withdrawn all their money from their PF accounts.

UAN

The UAN is a 12-digit unique number that has been given to every PF member. Before the introduction of the UAN, employees were inconvenienced by the fact that they had to keep shifting their accounts when they shift organisations, but now, the UAN controls all PF accounts of an employee and it can be functioned as one account. The UAN has made almost all processes of the EPF easier and convenient. Some of the benefits are:

• All PF accounts of an employee are unified and can be treated as one account under the UAN.
• Transfer from one PF account to another PF account can be done using the UAN.
• Using the UAN, employees can now make withdrawals from their PF accounts. For those employees who have linked their Aadhaar card to their UAN, they do not need the attestation of their employers to make a withdrawal.
• Using the UAN, employees can track their accounts, check the contributions, balance of their account and can manage their PF accounts all by themselves, without the hassle of their employer.

How to check EPF balance

EPF members could check their balance via UAN anytime to verify their contributions withdrawals and their outstanding balance. Now, with the introduction of the EPFO’s member portal and the UAN, checking one’s EPF balance is just a few clicks away. To check one’s EPF balance on the EPFO’s member portal, follow the steps:

• Visit the EPFO’s member portal - http://www.epfindia.com
• Next, click on ‘e-Passbook’ at the bottom of the screen

• Enter your PF account number and your password
• Once you have done that, click on ‘Login’.
• Then You will see your EPF number, Click on it to Get the Detail statement.

An employee can even check his/her balance via SMS, give a missed call on 01122901406.

EPF Helpline

For EPF members who need help navigating through the processes of the EPF or facing difficulties, the EPFO has set up a dedicated helpline to come to the aid of such members. The toll free helpline of the EPF is 1800118005.

Benefits of linking your Aadhaar card to your UAN

Since the Aadhaar card has now become the most valid source of identification in the country, linking one’s Aadhaar card to an employee’s UAN has enabled employees to make withdrawals, transfers and so on without the attestation of their employers. The Aadhaar card details linked to the UAN functions as a valid verification of the EPF member as well, enabling the member to perform various tasks related to the EPF seamlessly.