Organizations have discovered that the most important asset of a company is its human resource. This reasons why most employers have strengthened their personnel management for their employees. One such provision provided by companies is the Employee Provident Fund (EPF).
Employee Provident Fund (EPF/PF) is a scheme launched in favor of employees under which a certain percentage of the income is contributed monthly by employees in UAN EPFO. The same amount is also contributed by the employer which adds to the employee’s contribution as a collection of funds. This fund serves the purpose of providing financial support after the employee’s retirement. This PF can be utilized by employees even during employment and PF withdrawal online.
It has been made mandatory by the EPF organization for all employees under the Provident Fund Act to have a Universal Account Number (UAN). This number remains the same throughout the lifetime of an employee and can be used while EPF claim. The UAN is linked to the EPF account of the employee and thus the need for transferring EPFO online with job switch is eliminated.
The EPF money can be withdrawn by individuals after two months from the cessation of employment through an EPFO claim and EPF withdrawal online. This only applies to those whose unemployment has been certified by authorized officers.
An EPF may be withdrawn completely or partially. As per the new rule, EPFO allows withdrawal of 75% of the EPF corpus after 1 month of unemployment. The remaining 25% can be transferred to a new EPF account after gaining new employment. It becomes illegal to withdraw EPF completely without being unemployed for two consecutive months.
The conditions under which EPF can be withdrawn partially are:
For partial withdrawal of EPF, PF Advance Form 31 must be filled by the employee.
There are two methods of how to withdraw pf: Offline or Physical method, and Online Method.
Offline withdrawal of EPF requires a physical application. The form can be downloaded online through the EPFO website in EPFO online claim.
There are two forms available for physical application for PF claim online
The process of online PF withdrawal usually takes about 15-20 days. For online withdrawal, it is required that the employee has a working UAN which is linked to his/her details of bank, Aadhaar, and PAN. If these conditions are met, then you may proceed to these simple steps for online EPF withdrawal:
Step 1: Go to the EPFO/UAN Member portal and sign in with your UAN and password
Step 2: Check if your KYC is verified by clicking ‘KYC’ under ‘Manage’
Step 3: Click ‘Online Services’ from the top menu bar and select ‘Claim (Form-31, 19, & 10C)’
Step 4: The member’s details will be displayed. Enter your bank account’s last 4 digits and click ‘Verify’
Step 5: Sign the undertaking by clicking ‘Yes’ and then ‘Proceed for Online Claim’
Step 6: Select the claim form in the section ‘I want to apply for’. This form is usually ‘PF Advance (Form 31)’ for online EPF withdrawal. However, there are other forms for EPF final settlement or withdrawal of pension. It is noteworthy that all options for ineligibility of employee will be marked in red or won’t be shown.
Step 7: Select your ‘Purpose for which Advance is Require’ and tick the declaration
Step 8: Submit the form along with the scanned copies of required documents, if any
Step 9: After your employer approves your request for EPF withdrawal, the money will be deposited in the bank account you have mentioned from your PF account.
Online EPF withdrawal is beneficial because it requires less paperwork, and is hassle-free. The process of EPF withdrawal takes much lesser time as compared to the offline process. Also, the need to visit employers for attestation is eliminated in the online process. One can easily check the EPF status online through the member portal.