The EPFO portal allows you to track the status of your claims and offers many other benefits. Read on to know more!
The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme was enacted in the year 1952, replacing the Employee Provident Fund Ordinance, 1951. The EPF is a corpus of funds built through regular monthly contributions made by an employee and his/her employer. The aim of the scheme is to promote retirement savings for employees across India.
The amount contributed to the fund is based on a fixed rate and employees earn interest on their EPF balances. Both the interest earned and the total amount withdrawn at maturity are tax-free, making EPF one of the most popular forms of long-term retirement savings among the working population in India.
Besides retirement, funds accumulated in a person’s EPF account can also be used at the time of resignation, death or if an employee is rendered unfit for unemployment. The money in the fund offers financial security in times of emergency.
Additional Reading: Linking Of Aadhaar To EPF: A Step By Step Guide
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), therefore, services an unusually large number of subscribers. This, coupled with the large number of associated transactions involved, ranks the EPFO among the largest organisations globally. The EPFO operates three schemes. They are:
- Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952
- Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (which replaced the Employees’ Family Pension Scheme, 1971)
- Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976
Under the Act, member employees are eligible for provident fund, pension and insurance benefits as per the abovementioned schemes.
EPFO Membership – Eligibility
To avail benefits of the EPF scheme, employees have to become members of the provident fund.
- Employees are eligible for membership on the day of joining an establishment. This includes eligibility for provident funds, insurance and pension. Establishments with 20 or more employees have to provide PF to their employees.
- The Act does not apply to the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Additional Reading: When and how can you withdraw from your EPF?
EPF0 Member Portal Login
Here are the steps you need to follow to open, register and login to your account on the EPFO portal.
- On the EPFO site (www.epfindia.gov.in) subscribers should choose the member portal featured under the section ‘For Employees’.
- This will lead to the welcome page, at the bottom of which is a link to ‘Register’
- On clicking this link, subscribers will be directed to a page wherein the following details will have to be filled/chosen viz. subscriber’s mobile number, birth date, document, document number, name of subscriber as provided on the document, email id.
- Once filled in, an authentication PIN will have to be generated by clicking on ‘Get Pin’. This PIN number will be sent to the subscriber’s mobile and the same has to be entered at the bottom of the page, after agreeing to the disclaimer.
(The document chosen to register cannot be changed later. Documents include identity proofs like Aadhaar, PAN, NPR, Voter ID, driving licence, bank account or passport.)
- Once completed, a message will be displayed stating that the registration process was successful.
- Log-in details will be sent to the subscriber’s mobile. These details can be used to log into the EPFO members site thereafter. Additionally, the subscriber will have to verify his/her email id through the email sent to it.
- To log-in to the EPFO member portal, there is no requirement for a user id or password. The subscriber simply chooses a type of document and enters the document number. This acts as his/her user id. The registered mobile number acts as his/her password.
On registration, the subscriber can view one PF account per establishment and up to 10 accounts under different establishments. Besides being able to access the PF passbook online, subscribers also get single-point access to all their accounts.
Additional Reading: Now Withdraw EPF To Pay Hospital Bills
EPF claims status inquiry – Online or Offline
For many claim forms, members can receive EPF claim approval and other status updates via SMS by providing their mobile numbers atop the claim form before submission. Subscribers can check for EPF withdrawal status, EPF transfer status, EPF settlement status in two ways: online or offline.
Online tracking of EPF claims from the EPFO website
You can check the EPF claim status online by following a few steps if you are a member, subscriber or pensioner. People who have submitted a claim at any of the EPFO offices in India can use this service to check the status of their applications in real time. An applicant simply needs to know his/her PF account number to access this service.
- Open EPFO website.
- Click on ‘For Employees’ under the ‘Our Services’ section.
- Click on ‘Know Your Claim Status’ under the ‘Services’ section.
- In the next page, click on ‘Click Here for Knowing the Claim Status’.
- A new page will open with a single field where you select the state of PF office.
- In the next page, you will see a list of EPFO offices in the selected city.
- Select the EPF office where the claim is to be settled from a drop down menu.
- Once you have selected the relevant office, the Office Code and Region Code sections will get filled automatically with relevant data.
- Next, you need to type in the establishment code of your employer in the 3rd This code is maximum 7 digits.
- If there is any extension or sub-code for the establishment code, you need to fill it in the 4th box. If there is no extension or sub-code, you can leave the field blank.
- Next, fill in your account number which is a maximum of 7 digits long in the 5th
- Recheck all the fields and click on submit.
- You can now view your EPF claim status.
The status will reflect as ‘No record found’ if claim details are not updated in the system. Generally, on submission of claims and post updating in the system, a claim ID is generated.
If a mobile number has been provided in the claim form, wherever possible, an SMS update will be provided.
In case of transfer, an update will be sent regarding the closure of the old PF account and another updated will be sent regarding transfer of balance to the new PF account. In case of account settlement, an update will be sent regarding receipt of application at the EPF office and another update will be sent regarding credit of balance to the applicant’s account. In case a claim is not approved or there are some difficulties in processing a claim, the applicant may receive a ‘claim rejected’ status.
Additional Reading: Now Withdraw 90% Of EPF To Buy A Home
Offline tracking of EPF claims
The offline method requires a visit to the relevant EPFO office. Forms have to be either filled in manually and submitted at the EPF office or downloaded from the portal, filled and submitted at the EPF office.
Contact EPFO to check claim status information
Applicants can also reach out to the EPFO through the helpline or customer care numbers to gain information on different services including to ask about their claims in process. These lines are open all the time and call representatives will assist callers with their queries.
Additional Reading: 5 Things You Need To Know About The Single Page EPFO Withdrawal Form
Useful Terms
EPFO Passbook
PF subscribers can check their EPF/PF balances and account status updates through their passbooks which records transactions made with respect to their PF accounts. The employees PF status and account updates are recorded in this passbook on a monthly basis and will include contributions made, interest credited, withdrawals made (if any) and PF member details such PF account number, the employee-member’s name and birth date.
Earlier, employers would provide employees with an annual statement detailing contributions made by each party and interest earned thereon. This statement would be sent to the employer by the relevant EPFO office at the end of a financial year.
In 2012, however, the EPFO introduced EPF e-passbooks or online EPF passbooks which members can access and download through the EPFO portal, www.epfindia.gov.in. These e-passbooks contain all transactions pertaining to their account. The e-passbook can be downloaded multiple times, as required.
Additional Reading: Getting Your EPF E-Passbook Is Now Easy! Here’s How To Go About It
To avail the EPF e-passbook facility, members will have to first register on the EPFO members portal. Instructions to go about this are mentioned earlier in the article. Also, it is only available to those employees for whom the ECR (Electronic Challan cum Receipt) has been uploaded by their employers and for whom the employer has remitted dues; applicable from May 2012.
Employees who discontinued service prior to March 2012 will have to put in a request for the passbook. This can be done through the portal. Additionally, this facility does not apply to those employees whose accounts are inoperative or have been settled. However, employees can request passbooks of inoperative accounts to be displayed by putting in a request for the same through the portal.
Once registered on the member portal, subscribers can download their e-passbooks by providing the following details viz. the state of the PF office, the PF office, the company code, the PF account number and name of the subscriber. Once this is done, the authentication PIN has to be generated through the ‘Get Pin’ icon. Once received via the registered mobile number, it has to be entered at the bottom of the page after agreeing to the disclaimer. This will give subscribers the link to download their EPF e-passbook.
Additional Reading: EPFO Rate At 5-Year Low Of 8.55%. Still Worth Investing?
UAN – Universal Account Number
This is a single number that a PF subscriber can use to view all accounts held by him/her with different establishments. The unique 12 digit UAN links all member IDs of a PF subscriber. This makes accessing and tracking accounts easy and convenient.
UANs are provided to employees by their employers. Once obtained, the allotted UAN should be quoted to new employers, if any. The new employer will provide a new member ID to the employee and this will be linked to the UAN. With UANs, employees will depend less on employer intervention especially in transferring of PF accounts.
UANs are still in the process of being rolled out. An employee can check if he/she has been allotted a UAN by checking the UAN members section of the EPFO services portal at www.uanmembers.epfoservices.in. Here, employees can check their UAN status by providing their PF account number. If allotted, they can approach their employer to obtain it. Employees have to provide KYC documents to their employers (which employers verify) before they are given their UAN. The next step will be to register or activate their UAN.
Additional Reading: Combining Multiple EPF Accounts Through UAN
One Member – One EPF Account
Under the ‘Services’ tab on the EPFO portal, the ‘One Employee – One EPF Account’ link can be found. Clicking on the link will redirect you to a page where you can enter your phone number and then your UAN, after which you can provide details about all your previous PF accounts (Up to 10 PFT accounts at a go). With the help of this facility, you can consolidate all your PF accounts with the help of one unique 12-digit number called the UAN.
Additional Reading: How To Withdraw Your EPF Without Your Employer’s Signature
UMANG App
The UMANG (Unified Mobile App for New Governance) app helps employees view their passbook and make withdrawal requests through the app. While the passbook can be viewed without seeding one’s Aadhaar details, claim requests require EPFO members to seed their Aadhaar number with their UAN.
It’s good to keep a tab on your EPF account. If you spot something amiss then report it to your employer and EPFO immediately so that remedial measures can be taken. It’s also wise not to withdraw from your EPF account until retirement. But you can make some sharp investments that’ll help you meet the cost of living until retirement. A Mutual Fund is one example of an investment that offers good returns. We have a host on offer.