Form 13 for PF Transfer: Meaning, Download, Filling Process

If you are looking for a job or have just changed, you should know what Form 13 is. When changing employment, you must transfer your accumulated PF contribution from your previous employer to your current one. For this, you would be required to fill out Form 13 either online or offline. So, in this article, we will develop our understanding of Form 13.

What is Form 13?

Form 13 is a form that needs to be filed by an employee either online or offline after changing jobs. On the change of employment, the employee will receive different Member ID’s of different organsation. However, there is always a unique, Universal Account Number (UAN) which acts as an umbrella for linking various Member IDs of an employee. 

After you have completed filling out and submitting all the necessary personal, previous, and current employee details, the form is sent to either of the previous or current employers of your choice for attestation. Once the EPFO receives an employer's approval, it sends you an SMS regarding successful approval of the transfer claim form.

After it gets the approval of the employer, it is sent to the EPFO office for approval.

When And Why to Use Form 13?

The employee uses Form 13 to transfer his accumulated PF account contribution from one employer to another because of a job change. 

Every organisation provides its employees with a Member ID for the PF account. It is likely that the person changes jobs multiple times during their working period and, therefore, has various Member IDS to record their employment history.

From the employee's point of view, withdrawing an EPF contribution before 5 years of service will attract a TDS at the rate of 10% or 20% if PAN is not provided. Also, withdrawing an employee’s PF contribution, which is less than Rs. 50,000, is not taxable.

Another benefit of transferring the PF account to the new employer is that interest is provided on the EPF account, which gets compounded with time, leading to a decent PF account balance. 

Therefore, to avoid losing interest income or paying tax, the PF account holder prefers to transfer the account from his previous employer to another.

Key Details in EPF Form 13

EPF Form 13 contains the details in three parts:

Part A: Part A includes the employee's personal information.

Part B: Part B consists of the employee’s PF account details with the previous employer.

Part C: Part C includes the employee’s PF account details with the present employer.

Below is the screenshot of Form 13.

How To Download EPF Form 13?

Now, here we will see how we can download Form 13 by following the steps below:

Step 1: Go to the EPFO member portal, E-seva. Log in with your UAN, password and captcha.

Step 2: Under the Online Services tab, click on Track Claim Status

Step 3: After step 2, one will get redirected to the next page showing ‘Step 2: Authenticate OTP and submit’.

Step 4: Under Transfer Claim Status, one will find Printable Form 13. Click on download to download it.

Process of Online PF Transfer

Step 1: Log in to the unified EPFO portal using your UAN, password and captcha.

Step 2: After logging, under the Services Tab, click on One Member- One EPF account (Transfer Request)

Step 3: Verify your personal information and the details of the present PF account to which the transfer will be made.

Step 4: On clicking on ‘Get Details’, details about previous employment would be displayed.

Step 5: You can select one out of your previous or present employers to get your claim attested based on the availability of an authorised signatory holding a DSC (Digital Signature Certificate). After choosing between the present or previous employer, enter the Member ID and UAN.

Step 6: In the final step, click ‘Get OTP’. Once you receive an OTP on your UAN-registered mobile number, enter the OTP and click on ‘Submit.’

How To Check the Status of Form 13?

The following steps need to be followed to check the status of the transfer claim:

Step 1:  Log in to the unified EPFO portal using your UAN, password and captcha.

Step 2: Under the Online Services tab, click ‘Track Claim Status’.

Step 3: Once the transfer claim is submitted, the status ‘Pending with the employer’ is shown. When the employer approves the claim request, the status will be displayed as ‘Accepted by the employer. Pending at the Field office.’

Reasons Of Rejecting Transfer Claim Request By Field Office

The PF transfer claim form can get rejected by the field office for the following reasons:

• Incorrect details like personal information, bank account details or employment details.
• If the claim is submitted with an inactive UAN.
• Incomplete submission of documents

Solutions On Rejection Of PF Transfer Claim Request

• Before entering the details, double-check for typo errors, bank account details and information about the employer.
• Before submitting a transfer claim request, ensure that all the required documents are available to you.
• Once you submit the PF transfer claim request, inform your employer. Also, take follow-ups to prevent rejection of your transfer claim request.
• Keep a record of all the submitted documents for your future reference.
• Keep checking the status of your transfer request.

Latest update on Form 13: Revamped Form 13 Software

EPFO has announced some recent updates on Form 13 to simplify the transfer claim process and reduce the time by taking the following steps:

• According to the press release by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the EPFO has launched revamped Form 13 software functionality.
• Earlier, the transfer of PF accumulation takes place under two offices

1. Source Office- From this office, the PF accumulation transfer takes place.
2. Destination Office: From this office, the PF accumulation is transferred to.

So, in the revamped functionality, the approval is needed only by the source office. Once the source office provides the approval, the accumulated contribution will be automatically transferred to the destination office.

• Under the revamped functionality, taxable and non-taxable accounts of PF contributions will be bifurcated to calculate the TDS on taxable PF interest.
• Through revamped functionality, the employers can generate UAN in bulk without seeding them with Aadhaar.

Final Words

Form 13 is a crucial document that employees must complete upon changing employment. It makes the transition process from one employer to another smoother for both employees and employers. While filling Form 13, one should be careful about the correctness of the details entered for the timely processing of PF transfer claim.