EPFO is the Employee’s Provident Fund Organization which works under the Ministry of Labor and Employment. It is a statutory body that was launched in 1951 by the Government of India. EPFO manages the EPF scheme. EPF stands for Employees Provident Fund which was introduced in 1952 as a social security scheme. The primary objective of this scheme is to protect employees across the private sector. This scheme is targeted to provide a comfortable retirement period for the employees of the private sector. It helps people in saving money as it comes in handy in dire situations. The contributions in EPF are made equally by both the employee and the employer. It is mandatory for organizations having a minimum number of 20 employees to register themselves with the EPFO. EPF is considered as a profitable investment for salaried employees. Some portion of the employee’s monthly is contributed towards the EPF.
As per the Government rules and regulations, only a salaried individual EPF account can be opened. Almost every registered company has an EPF account of its employees.
User will be required to create the ID and password of the choice when he/she is logging in for the first time. The website of EPFO is user-friendly and very convenient. A few basic details are required for creating an account. Here are the steps for the EPFO login:
- Step 1: Visit the official EPFO website.
- Step 2: Create a login on the portal by entering the required details. It needs basic personal details like name, date of birth, address, mobile number, etc.
- Step 3: The entered details should be credible, as they would be required every time a member login to the portal.
- Step 4: After the details are entered, log into the portal using any document. For instance, a member can log in using an Aadhaar card, select Aadhaar card under the ‘Select Any One Document’ tab and enter the Aadhaar number. Always cross-check the details before clicking on the submit button.
- Step 5: After the details are submitted, an OTP is received on the provided mobile number for the authorization.
- Step 6: Enter the received OTP for authorization to get registered. Once the successful submission of all the details and account creation, a member can also download the e-passbook.
Universal Account Number
UAN plays a vital role in the EPF process. It takes over all the members’ IDs of the EPFO. It is a 12-digit unique code which is allotted to every registered member. UAN facilitates with the functions like updating PF passbook, updating documents, transferring old EPF account, linking previous member IDs to the current one, activating information services like SMS service regarding monthly contribution and many other.
Benefits of Employee Provident Fund (EPF)
Here are the few benefits of the EPF fund for the employees of an organization can avail:
- At the time of retirement, a person gets the lump sum of EPS money along with PF.
- A member can also get the pension benefit if he/she completed 10 years of service without any withdrawal till the age of 58 years.
- EPF amount can be withdrawn in the need of financial exigencies in life without any baggage of the refund unless it is misused.
- If a member resigns from the organization he/she can settle the account. They receive the PF contribution, Employer Contribution, and Interest.
- EPFO guarantees the pension benefits to the members, even if the employer has not contributed to the pension fund.
Transferring the Provident Fund via EPFO
EPFO facilitates its members to transfer the PF, at the time of job change. If an employee is consistent with the employment, then he/she does need to worry about the transferring of PF. But if a member changes take a new job or take a break then there may be a need for PF transfer. Once the new job is taken up, the new employer will register in the EPFO and the whole process runs again. Now that a new PF account is created, what happens to the previous account? Under these situations, an employee has two options:
- Firstly, he/she can transfer the balance from the old PF account to the current account.
- Secondly, if a member decided to stay on a break for 60 or more days, then he/she can withdraw the contribution to PF with interest.
However, experts usually suggest that the transfer of PF instead of withdrawing offers more attractive returns and is an ideal saving scheme for retirement.
Online EPF Withdrawal
The time has gone where EPF withdrawal used to be a long process. Where one was required to submit the several documents. And even after the submission, settlement used to take a long period of a minimum of 3-4 months. But now with EPFO online withdrawal facility a member can easily apply and avail the PF funds with the comfort of home.
Online EPF facilitates people to conduct the complete and partial withdrawal of provident fund (PF) money. An applicant just needs to submit an online application instead of a plethora of documents. The EPF claim can be submitted from anywhere at any time without physically going to the office.
The EPF claim can be done by simply visiting the EPFO portal. There are three basic types of EPF claims:
1. EPF full/partial withdrawal
2. EPS withdrawal
3. Loans & Advances EPF
Eligibility for the Online EPF facility
Here are the general criteria to obtain the benefits of the online EPF facility:
- A member must have an active UAN (Universal Account Number).
- Registered mobile number should be seeded against the UAN as OTP verification is done in the process of claim submission.
- PAN card need to be seeded in the EPFO database.
- UAN should be linked with the Aadhaar Card.
- The details in the UAN credentials should be the same as in an Aadhaar Card.
- An applicant should have a consolidate EPF account in case of multiple UAN.
- Bank account and the IFSC need to be authenticated with the UAN.
For availing the online EPF withdrawal facility an applicant needs to possess one
UAN. All the above points facilitate the applicant with the feature of merging the EPF accounts. Lastly, the feature of online EPFO login has facilitated the members with ease. The whole EPFO Login and managing the EPF account is now a hassle-free task.
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