PF Account: 5 Latest Developments 5 Crore Employees Should Know

EPFO receives 1 crore claims every year including those about EPF withdrawal (Representational image)

EPFO receives 1 crore claims every year including those about EPF withdrawal (Representational image)

Retirement fund body EPFO has been introducing new services for easing the claim processes and also to avail its services.

EPFO or Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has about 5 crore subscribers and manages a corpus of over Rs. 10 lakh crore. UMANG is the only official app for EPFO services, according to the retirement fund body’s website. The UMANG app will provide access to over 1,200 services of various government organisations, including that of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) services. EPFO receives 1 crore claims every year including those pertaining to EPF withdrawal. EPFO has been introducing new services for easing the claim processes and also to avail its services.

EPFO’s five Latest Initiatives

1. EPFO on November 23 approved a proposal for crediting exchange traded fund (ETF) units to provident fund accounts of its 4.5 crore members. Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscribers would be able to see ETF units in their PF accounts by March-end next year.

The subscriber cannot do trading in this case and EPFO would liquidate the ETF units only when members apply for withdrawals. The EPFO had started investing in the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) in August 2015, putting 5 per cent of its investible deposits in stock linked products. It was raised to 15 per cent for the current fiscal. EPFO has invested around Rs. 32,000 crore so far in the ETFs, according to an official.

An ETF is a security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange.

2. EFPO has also approved a proposal for centralised payment system for EPFO using National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) platform, which would not only reduce transaction charges but also bring more convenience. The new system would enable EPFO to transfer funds on same day to the beneficiaries through NPCI platform.

3. EPFO has introduced a new facility where subscribers can give online request for correction in name, date of birth and other details. Under the offline method, if an EPFO subscriber wants to correct basic details such as his/her name and date of birth, employee and employer are required to submit a joint request to the concerned EPFO office for correction of the details of employee. To ease the process, EPFO has introduced an online facility. EFPO subscribers can now give online request to his/her employer for correction in basic details.

4. PF Auto Transfer: Transferring your employee provident fund (EPF) accounts while changing jobs has become easier. New joinees are no longer required to file separate EPF Account transfer claims using Form-13 after changing jobs. It will now be done automatically. EPFO has introduced a new composite form called Form 11 that will replace Form 13 in all cases of auto transfer. This was stated by EPFO in an order dated September 20, 2017. At present, employees are required to file Form-13 for provident fund account transfer on changing jobs. The EPFO has decided that Form 11 will replace Form No 13 in all cases of auto transfer.

5. Linking UAN and Aadhaar online: EPFO has introduced a new facility for its subscribers to link their UAN with Aadhaar online. “This, in turn, would facilitate the members, a better and speedy EPFO Account services,” the retirement fund body says in a statement. EPFO has made this facility available at its website www.epfindia.gov.in.

EPFO in a recent tweet highlighted the benefits of seeding your account with Aadhaar number. The benefits include submitting claims directly to EPFO without employers’ attestation, receiving monthly updates on the mobile number registered with your UAN and download e-passbook and checking your passbook balance and other details.

Other developments

EPFO has smoothened the process for allotment of UAN or Universal Account Number. UAN, which is a unique number assigned to an employee, acts as an umbrella for the multiple member Ids allotted to an individual by different establishments where he or she has worked. UAN helps link multiple member ids allotted to a single employee under a single Universal Account Number or UAN. With the help of EPFO’s new facility a person who does not have a UAN and is looking for employment can generate the UAN and submit to the employer. “Now, the citizen on going for an employment can submit generated UAN to the employer so that the same UAN will be linked to the member ID allotted to member in that establishment,” EPFO said in a notification dated November.

Source – ndtv.com