Employee Provident Fund or Provident Fund or PF is more of a retirement scheme for employees. In EPF, the employer and employee contribute 12% of the employee’s basic salary and dearness allowance under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Act, 1952.
Suppose you’re working in an organization where PF deduction is mandatory; 12% of your basic salary will be deducted as per the rules. Your employer will also match the number and contribute 12% as per the scheme. However, 8.33% will be contributed to your Employees’ Pension account, and 3.67% will be contributed to your EPF account.
Now coming back to the topic, if you are reading this, you most probably want to dabble in your EPF money and make a claim for numerous reasons best known to you. Now the question arises of whether you want to make a partial claim.
You can only completely withdraw the money upon retirement or being unemployed for more than 2 months. At the same time, you can partially withdraw money under a few circumstances, such as a medical emergency, repayment of a home loan, marriage or such.
You can easily make an EPFO claim online and offline; however, you need to ensure that your account is linked with aadhaar card. So let’s get started and help you make an EPFO claim right away!
Key Takeaways
- You can track the status of your EPFO claim.
- There are numerous EPFO Claim forms for different circumstances.
- You can withdraw your EPF money both online and offline.
- If you are unemployed for 2 months and more, you can withdraw the money from your PF account.
What is the Eligibility Criteria to Make an EPFO Claim?
If you are planning to withdraw your EPF, here are the eligibilities you will have to fulfill-
- EPFO considers retirement only after you’ve reached/ crossed 55 years of age, and only then you can withdraw the entire amount.
- One year prior to your retirement, you can withdraw around 90% of your EPF.
- You can initiate the withdrawal of the EPF corpus money if you face retrenchment or unemployment due to lockdown.
- You will have to declare unemployment to withdraw money from your EPF account.
- If you’re withdrawing less than INR. 50,000, then no TDS will be applicable.
- If you submit a PAN Card with your application, 10% TDS will be deducted. However, if you don’t submit a PAN, around 30% TDS will be deducted plus tax.
Please note that you don’t need permission from your employer to withdraw the PF, and it can be done directly via an EPFO account login. Though you must have your Universal Account Number (UAN), ensure your aadhaar card is linked, and you have your registered mobile handy for the OTP.
Did You Know?
You can nominate your parents, children or spouse as a nominee but not your siblings. Under the provisions of PF law, the siblings are not considered family members.
What Are the Different Types of EPFO Claim Forms?
Now, this is the tricky part. As we discussed, there are different forms to fill out depending on the circumstances. Here are the major forms and a little information about them for you to comprehend-
Form type | When to use |
Form 10D | Fill for making pension claim |
Form 14 | Fill if you are paying for life insurance policy from your PF money |
Form 13 | In case you are planning to transfer pension/ PF to different accounts |
Form 20 | To be filed by nominee/ heir in case of PF holder’s death |
Form 10C | To be filed by nominee/ heir claiming assurance benefits |
Form 31 | To be filed when claiming temporary/ advance withdrawal |
Form 19 | To be filed for final settlement of PF account |
Procedure to Withdraw Money From EPFO Online
You can withdraw money from EPFO’s official website. Before starting, ensure that your UAN is activated. Also, don’t forget to link your aadhaar with UAN. You can complete the process on the UMANG application or EPFO portal.
Also, if you are not aware, doing KYC is mandatory to be eligible to withdraw the funds, especially if you are in the first five years of your career. For the KYC, you will need a PAN card as well, and once the KYC is done, your account will reflect the verified status. Now follow these few steps to make your EPFO online claim-
Steps to Make EPFO Online Claim–
Step 1: Visit the official portal of UAN
Step 2: Log in via your UAN and OTP/ password and enter the captcha
Step 3: Visit the services tab
Step 4: Select the Claim Form-31, 19 & 10C
Step 5: Submit your bank account details and select ‘verify’
Step 6: Select yes
Step 7: Now select Proceed for Online Claim
Step 8: Now select the claim under the drop-down of I Want To Apply For
Step 9: To withdraw your PF fund, click on PF Advance (Form 31)
Step 10: Mention your purpose, address and the amount required
Step 11: Submit your application
Step 12: You might be asked to submit the supporting documents for your claims
Step 13: If your claim is accepted, then you will receive your money within 15-20 days
Procedure to Withdraw Money From EPFO Offline
Many people are not comfortable using the internet for financial matters; if you are one of them, you can opt for the offline EPFO claim. You will have to visit the nearest EPFO office and submit a Composite Claim Form to initiate this process. There are two forms, one includes aadhaar, and the other includes non-aadhaar.
If you submit the aadhaar form, you do not need any extra attestation, whereas, for non-aadhar, you will have to attract the various supporting documents while submitting the EPFO claim form at the EPFO office.
How to Check EPFO Claim Status?
Now that you’ve already submitted your EPFO claim, all you are doing is to wait for money to be deposited in your bank account. So why not track your EPFO claim status. Firstly, keep this information available to check the EPFO claim status on the go-
- Extension code (if required)
- Details of company
- Universal Account Number
- Your registered mobile phone
Check the EPFO online claim status. Follow these steps-
Step 1: Visit the official website of EPFO
Step 2: Click on the Our Services tab on the top left and then click on For Employees from drop-down
Step 3: Select the Know Your Claim Status
Step 4: Fill in your UAN and captcha and right-click on search
Step 5: Now enter your establishment code, PF number and the PF office and the state where your PF office is
Step 6: Submit, and your EPFO Claim status will be displayed
Check the EPFO Claim Status by Giving a Missed Call
To be eligible to avail of this benefit, it is mandatory that you must update your Aadhaar, account details and PAN card details on the UAN portal. Just give a missed call at 011 – 22901 406 from your registered number, and the details will be sent to you via SMS.
Via SMS
You can also check the EPFO Claim status via SMS from your registered mobile number. However, remember to link your UAN account with your registered mobile number. You can send the message to 7738299899. Simply type ‘EPFOHO UAN LAN’. Note that LAN means the language that you prefer. Here are the language codes for your reference-
Code | Language |
BEN | Bengali |
GUJ | Gujarati |
KAN | Kannada |
MAR | Marathi |
HIN | Hindi |
ENG | English |
MAL | Malayalam |
TEL | Telugu |
PUN | Punjabi |
Check Your EPFO Claim Status Via UMANG App
You can check your EPFO claim status for withdrawal from the UMANG application. You can download the application on your phone and visit the EPFO section. You can either log in via MPIN or the OTP. Select the Employee Centric Services, Track Claim, and then you can view your claim status.
What Are the Different EPFO Claim Status Stages?
There are four different stages of EPFO Claim. Let us explain them here for you-
- Payment Under Process- This means that your claim is still processing, and once the amount is transferred to your account successfully, the status will change.
- Settled- Your claim is accepted, and the amount is transferred to your account.
- Rejected- If your details are not verified, such as signature, or in case you have not submitted an EPFO claim printout within 15 days, your claim can be rejected.
- Not available- Your EPFO claim is not processed.
Word to remember
Corpus
In the finance world, corpus means the total money that is invested in any particular scheme by the investor.
On an ending note
Maximum people prefer to not dabble in their EPF amount and take it out upon retirement. However, as per the new mandate released by the government, if you have been unemployed for the past two months, or want to pay your house loan, life insurance policy, medical bill or such, you can dip your hands in it.
FAQs
One can only withdraw their PF balance completely upon retirement or if one is unemployed for 2 or more months as per new rules.
No, you don’t require your employer’s permission to withdraw your PF amount. You do need to get your UAN and aadhaar linked by your employer to be eligible to withdraw the amount.
You can partially withdraw the EPF money for payment of construction, purchasing a property, paying medical bills, home loan repayment, house renovation, and for weddings. Although there are various conditions you will have to meet in each scenario.
It takes around 15-20 days for the EPF claim to be settled. If you have completed the process without any errors, however, it may get rejected if there are any mismatches in the information and the documents.
Once you switch your job, your new employer will create a new account for your PF contributions under your previous UAN.