PF account to be transferred, not closed, upon job change
Making life easier for employees, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has announced that starting next month, your PF account would be automatically transferred upon job change. This is one of the initiatives that the EPFO is taking to make the PF scheme more worker-friendly. Currently, when you change your job, your account is likely to be closed. Another can be reopened later.
What is the Employee Provident Fund?
The PF is a retirement benefit for salaried employees. Each month, both the employee and employer contribute 12% of the former's basic salary to it. The percentage is pre-set by the government. The amount accumulated in your PF account is payable only on retirement, resignation or death. Partial withdrawals can be made for financing life insurance policies, acquiring a house, wedding of self/dependents, etc.
So how have things changed?
"Now we've made Aadhaar compulsory for enrolment," said chief provident fund commissioner VP Joy. "We are trying to ensure transfer of money if one changes jobs, without any application, in three days. In future, if one has an Aadhaar ID and has verified the ID, then the account will be transferred without any application if the worker goes anywhere in the country," he added.
How can you check PF balance?
Go to the EPFO portal at https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface. Enter your 12-digit UAN and password. Once logged in, you will find a dashboard of online services offered by the EPFO. The 'View' tab offers detailed account information.
This follows a series of employee-friendly initiatives
Few months ago, the EPFO launched an initiative to allow citizens to submit their claims online. This was expected to reduce turnaround time from 20 days to 10. A mobile app called Umang was launched for settlement of claims. It had also rolled out a composite claim form for withdrawal requests and waived off the need to submit documents and certificates for partial withdrawals.
