As an employee, you can provident fund, which is also known as Employee Provident Fund. But there are numerous questions which turn around this concept like what precisely it means, who gives to it and most importantly what results to the fund when you change your employment.
If you are watching for answers to the question above, then this is the best place for you. We have briefly included the basics of EPF and EPFO in this blog. You will also get a complete guide on how you can transfer your EPF fund via the EPFO portal.
Table of Contents
What is EPF?
EPF stands for Employees Provident Fund which was also founded in the year 1952 as a social security scheme. This plan was also started to protect employees over the organized sector. The main objective of this scheme was to give a comfortable retirement period for the residents. It also assists people in saving money as it comes in handy in dire circumstances.
The contributions towards EPF are made evenly by the employer and the employee. Some portion of the employee’s salary goes towards the EPF funds every month. Loans in EPF is a profitable venture for salaried workers because of its exempt-exempt-exempt model. Under the E-E-E model, finances, interests, withdrawals after 5 years are excused from taxes.
What is EPFO?
EPF scheme is also governed by the Employee’s Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) which happens under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. It is also necessary for organizations with a minimum of 20 workers to register themselves with the EPFO. EPFO also reaches various services to its members like UAN, the facility of withdrawing PF online, assigning PF, registration of business via online mode, and various other facilities.
What is UAN?
UAN stands for ‘Universal Account Number’ which serves as an umbrella for all the PF/member Ids. As soon as you begin working at an EPFO registered business, your employer registers you with EPFO. Then EPFO allows you a PF account.
If you also want to change your business, you will be provided with a new PF account. All these PF accounts are connected to UAN. Your UAN doesn’t change with your job and lives stable throughout your use period. UAN is a also mixture of 12 alpha-numeric characters which is connected to several various accounts of the employee. Through UAN, the method of transferring EPF and eliminating PF has been made easier.
Now, let’s study how you can give your EPF via the EPFO portal and why do you require to transfer your provident funds.
Transferring your cautious fund via EPFO
If you also have just become your job and questioning how to transfer your PF, then proceed reading to all that’s needed and wants to do to undertake the transferring method.
Reasons behind transferring your PF:
If you are also compatible with your employment, you do not have to bother about transferring your PF. You and your company also will keep giving to your PF account until you leave that job. You unless take a new job or take a break.
Once you take up a new job, your new company will register you in the EPFO and you will be assigned a new PF account where you will again give to PF. Now that you have got a distinct PF account, what appears to your earlier account? Under these conditions, you get two choices:
- Firstly, you can transfer the profit from your old PF account to your current account
- Secondly, if you choose to visit on a break for 60 or more days, then you can remove your contribution to PF with interest.
Experts recommend that you give your PF instead of withdrawing as it offers beautiful returns and is an excellent saving scheme for retirement.
Points to get before transferring your PF:
- Transferring your PF balance is only likely if you meet these conditions:
- Details of your past PF account and current PF account should be listed in EPFO database
- EPFO database should hold your accurate personal information and data linked to your PF account
- e-KYC should be recognized by your employer
- For your previous account, you will get only one substitution request
- Authorized signatories should be digitally recorded in EPFO by the current/previous employer.
- Only bank record which is linked to Aadhaar can be used to file the transfer claim. Linking of PAN with UAN is not necessary for the transfer claim.
- Your UAN and mobile number recorded in UAN should be active
- Process to give your PF Online
- Since the appearance of UAN, the transfer of PF has been shited under ‘Unified portal’. In the origin, this facility was available under ‘Online Transfer Claim Portal’.
Process to transfer your PF Online
- To transfer PF, understand the steps mentioned below in an orderly manner:
- Go to the affiliate interface of the unified portal by clicking on the link specified below: https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/
- Here you will see a cover related to the one above on your computer screens. Now, log in the EPFO portal managing your login credentials, i.e., UAN, Password and Captcha. After registering in the details, click on ‘Sign In’.
- Once you have logged in, the right-hand side of the screen will reveal the following information like UAN, name, date of birth, bank statement number, email address, and other details linked to the account. Look at the image mentioned below for reference.
- Get Confirm the information and click on ‘Confirm’. From there, you will be practiced to a pre-filled transfer request form. On the next step, you will have to choose details of your past PF online-epf-transfer-procedure account. Select that account from where you require to transfer the money. You can see the details of your previous account by agreeing on ‘Get details’.
- In this section, you will be required to take between ‘previous employer’ and ‘current employer’ under ‘Attestation through’ option. ‘Current employer’ choice will remain useless if your employer hasn’t made any addition to the PF account.
- Once you have chosen either one of the employers, you require to put in your member Id/UAN.
- After filing in the credentials, you will be used to next step, i.e, ‘Authenticate OTP and Submit’. In this step, you require to click on ‘Get OTP’ and OTP will be transferred on your UAN registered mobile number. Enter the OTP in its allocated space and click on ‘Submit’.
- Once you have submitted your application, you will be taken back to the individual details and employment history page. At the top of the page, you will get your transfer claim along with tracking Id, previous account number, attestation information, and Form 13. You require to download this form and sign where ever required. Submit this signed form to the chosen employer within 10 days of filing the claim.
How to check PF transfer status?
The waiting period after finishing your transfer claim is worthless. You keep questioning when your money will get attributed to your account. To evade such situation, EPFO has come up with three separate ways of tracking your transfer claim. Continue reading here as tracking your transfer claim status has never been more accessible.
1st way: track your claim state via member claim status link
- To track via this mode, follow the steps mentioned below:
- Go to EPFO’s unified portal by clicking on the link mentioned below: https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/For_Employees.php
- With this, you will be taken to the Employee’s page of the unified portal.
Choose ‘Know Your Claim Status’ which is available under the ‘Services’ alternative.
- Once you click on that, you will be used to another portal from where you can track your application status. For this, you require to log in using your UAN number and captcha. After finishing in the credentials, click on ‘search’.
- Once you have put in your login credentials, you will notice a screen similar to the one discussed below. You want to select the member Id for which you have filed the claim and then click on the ‘View claim status.
To track via this method, follow the model mentioned below:
- Go to the member interface of EPFO’s unified portal. You also require to log in to your account by registering your UAN, password, and captcha. To visit the member portal, click on the link named below: https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/
In the next step, you will be capable to see all the details associated with your claim along with the current status.
2nd way: track via the unified portal of EPFO:
Once you have logged in, the most suitable side of the screen will reveal your personal data. You also require to select ‘Track claim status’ which is accessible under ‘Online services’. You will see the tab at the top of the screen. Check the picture below for reference.
Under ‘Track claim status’, you will be able to view the following information: Online claim status, Transport claim status, and Stop auto-initiated claim cases. From here, you can review the current state of your transfer claim.
3rd way: Track your application directly from the EPFO website
To follow your claim status via the EPFO website, you can also require to have these things handy:
- Account number of your Employee’s Provident Fund
- If needed, your company/establishment’s code also
- Your employer’s EPF regional service
- You can get all this data on the PF statement provided to you by your employer. And if you don’t have your PF statement, you can click on this link to get your company code and your employer’s regional provident fund office.
Step-by-step process:
- Click on the link stated as it will directly take you to the ‘Know Your Claim Status’ page of the website.
- Click on the ‘Click here for Understanding the Claim Status’ option mentioned at the end of the page.
- You will be required to choose your PF office state from the dropdown list. Once you have chosen your state, your screen will display the list of all the local offices.
- From the list of regional offices, choose the office which is important to you.
- Once you have chosen the regional office, region code and office code will automatically be filed in their assigned spaces.
- You want to fill in the ‘Establishment Code’. A general establishment code can be 7 numbers long. But if your establishment code has a sub-code or an increase, then the same can be filled in the fourth box. If there is no sub-code or extension, then you require to leave this box empty.
- In the fifth box, you require to enter your account number which can be 7 characters long.
- Once you have chosen in all the details, click on ‘submit’. After presenting the details, it will give you the current status of your transfer claim.
Common FAQs:
How long does it take to process a transfer application?
From the date of submission, the transfer offer might take up to 20 days. But according to EPFO, the online process will take less time to evaluate the transfer claim.
How to verify if I am eligible to file transfer claims:
To verify if you are qualified to file for transfer claim, You can also follow the steps discussed as below:
- Go to the EPFO portal by clicking on the link below:
- https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/index.php
- Click on Online services >> For Employees
- Following the Services section, select ‘OCS/UMANG – FAQs/Eligibility’
- In this PDF, you will find all the data associated to eligibility of Online Claim Settlement (OCS).
Will I be responsible for tax exemptions if I withdraw PF before 5 years?
If you are withdrawing EPF before 5 years, then tax will be levied on your resignations. It is essential that you are in service for 5 following years to avail tax exceptions.
Is there any limit on the number of PF withdrawals?
There is no deadline on PF withdrawals, and you can also withdraw whenever you want the money. But, there is a limit on the withdrawal amount. You can unless withdrawing your contribution from the PF or six times of your payment, whichever option has a lower number.
Can PF be withdrawn while working?
EPFO also has a designated list of reasons which provides partial PF withdrawals. If your purpose for withdrawal is amongst the purposes stated by the EPFO, then you are available for early PF withdrawals.
