PF Transfer - Process, Rules & How to Transfer PF Online?

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a retirement benefit scheme in India, provided by the Employees' Provident Funds Organisation. It is a government-backed savings scheme that helps employees save for their retirement.

Under this scheme, a portion of the employee's salary (usually 12% of their basic pay plus dearness allowance) is contributed towards the EPF account every month. An equal amount is contributed by the employer. The contributions made towards the EPF account earn a fixed interest rate, as declared by the government from time to time.

The accumulated amount in the EPF account can be withdrawn by the employee at the time of retirement, or in the event of certain specified circumstances such as illness, disability, or on the death of the employee. You can also partially withdraw from this account for certain purposes such as housing, education, or marriage.

EPF is a crucial component of an employee's financial planning, as it provides a source of long-term savings that can help secure their financial future.

Why Transfer Your PF

Once an individual starts his career by taking up employment in any of the PF registered organization, an employee would be registered for PF purpose and both employee and employer contributions to employee’s PF and the fund earns interest till withdrawal. Further, it is not uncommon especially in early or mid-years of the career, to switch job for various reasons with or without break. In such scenarios, what happens to the PF account of the employee already created with the previous employer? The employee will have two options in such cases.

• Employee’s contribution with interest can be withdrawn if the employee continues to be on break for up to 60 days; or
• Transfer the balance to the current employer

As already mentioned, in order to make it an ideal saving for retirement it is always better to transfer the PF balance instead of withdrawing. This is also advisable from the tax standpoint as withdrawal of PF within 5 years of continuous service attracts tax.

How to Use UAN to Transfer PF Online?

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been taking several measures to simplify the operation of EPF account both for employer and employees. Keeping up with technology revolution, EPFO is also striving towards making all the process related to EPF electronic, more specifically PF transfer and withdrawal of PF which are generally tedious and time-consuming. EPFO introduced Universal Account Number (UAN), which acts as an umbrella for the multiple Member Ids allotted to an individual by different employers. UAN enables linking of multiple EPF Accounts (Member Id) allotted to a single member. UAN offers a bouquet of services like dynamically updated UAN card, updated PF passbook including all transfer-in details, facility to link previous members’ ID with present ID, monthly SMS regarding credit of contribution in PF account and facility for auto-triggering transfer request on change of employment.

Documents Required Transferring the PF Online

While the PF transfer was possible online earlier under ‘Online Transfer Claim Portal’, with the introduction of UAN, the process of transfer is revised and shifted under ‘unified portal’. However, in order to make online PF transfer, please ensure the following:

• The member should have activated his UAN in UAN portal and mobile number used for activation should also be active
• Bank account and bank IFSC code of employee should be seeded against the UAN Seeding Aadhar number and PAN against UAN is not mandatory for raising transfer claims
• The employer should have approved the e-KYC
• The previous/current employer should have digitally registered authorized signatories in EPFO
• PF account number of both previous and current employment of an employee should be entered in EPFO database
• Only one transfer request against the previous member ID can be accepted
• Personal information and PF account related information is shown in EPFO should be correct

How to Transfer PF Online

Now we know that PF transfer can be made online and above criteria need to be fulfilled. Let us understand the procedure step by step with the help of screenshots:

Step 1:Login to Unified portal (member interface) by using your credentials i.e., UAN number and password

Step 2: After login, click on ‘One Member – One EPF Account (Transfer Request)’ under Online Services

Step 3:Verify personal information and PF account for present employment:

Step 4: PF account details of previous employment would appear on clicking on ‘Get details’ below.

Step 5:You have the option of choosing either your previous employer or current employer for attesting the claim form based on the availability of authorized signatory holding DSC. Choose either of the employers and provide member id/UAN:

Step 6: In the next step, click on ‘Get OTP’ to receive OTP to UAN registered mobile number and enter the OTP and click on submit.

Step 7: Once you click ‘Submit’ you can see the Tracking ID and PF account details. Take a printout of ‘Form 13’ and sign it. This form must be submitted to the employer within 10 days of obtaining it.

Step 8: Your previous employer will review and approve the claim and forward it to the EPFO for approval and transfer of PF accounts. You will get an SMS when your employer and EPFO approve the transfer claim.

Documents Required to PF Transfer

• Valid ID proof (PAN card, Aadhaar card or driving licence) 
• UAN 
• PF account number 
• Present employer’s details 
• Bank account details 
• Current and old PF account details 
• Establishment number 

How to Check Status of PF Transfer?

• Go to the EPFO member portal. 
• Log in by entering the UAN and password.
• Under the ‘Online Services’ tab, click on ‘Track Claim Status’.
• The status of PF transfer will be displayed under the ‘Transfer Claim Status’.

Things To Consider While Transferring PF Online

• UAN is active on the EPFO portal. 
• The Aadhaar-linked mobile number is active. 
• Bank account is linked with the UAN.
• Know Your Customer (KYC) is verified on EPFO portal. 

Benefits of Transferring PF

When an employee changes a job, it is better to transfer the old PF corpus to new PF account created by the current employer. EPF is a long-term investment backed by the government. Thus, it can be withdrawn in case of emergency. Transferring the balance of the PF account from the old to the new has the following benefits-

• TDS is applicable on EPF withdrawal within 5 years of employment. However, if the PF corpus is transferred within 5 years, it is tax-free.
• EPFO provides compound interest on PF contributions. Thus, if the PF amount is withdrawn instead of transfer, the interest would reduce.

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