When members switch jobs, the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has made it easier to transfer provident funds.
94% of transfer claims, or roughly 1.20 crore of the 1.30 crore total claims, are anticipated to be sent straight to EPFO under the updated procedure, negating the need for employer involvement.
How has the EPFO made it easier? Read on to find out!
EPFO Simplifies Process for Transferring PF Account
Employer involvement is no longer necessary for members with fully compliant e-KYC to submit their PF transfer claims online through EPFO using an Aadhaar-based OTP.
According to the Ministry of Labour & Employment, “To ensure ease of doing for its members, EPFO has simplified the process for the transfer of PF account on change of jobs wherein the requirement to route online transfer claims through either the previous or current employer has been removed in majority of cases.”
The Ministry stated, “It is expected that in future over 1.20 crore out of 1.30 crore total transfer claims i.e. 94% of the total claims would be directly forwarded to EPFO without requiring the employer’s intervention.”
The joint declaration procedure, which was previously used to update subscribers’ personal data, has been made even simpler by EPFO.
Members Can Update Information Without Uploading Any Supporting Documentation
Members can now update information like name, date of birth, gender, nationality, marital status, spouse name, father/mother’s name, joining date, and leaving date without uploading any supporting documentation if their Universal Account Number (UAN) has been verified through Aadhaar.
Updates for UANs acquired before October 1, 2017, might still need employer certification.
It is anticipated that the updated procedure will eliminate the average 28-day delay brought on by employers approving Joint Declarations (JDs).
About 50% of correction requests for EPF account holders without complete e-KYC will still be approved at the employer level without the need for EPFO participation.
The Ministry of Labour & Employment noted, “This revision will immediately benefit around 3.9 lakh members whose requests are pending at various stages.”
