EPFO eases PF transfer on job change, removes employer's approval

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Retirement fund body EPFO has simplified the process of transferring PF accounts on job change by removing the requirement of approval from an employer in the majority of the cases, an official statement said on Friday.

Till now, the transfer of Provident Fund (PF) accumulations involved two Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) offices-- the Source Office, from which the PF amount was transferred, and the Destination Office, where the amount is finally credited, the Ministry of Labour & Employment said.

Now, with an aim to further simplify the process, EPFO has removed the requirement of approval of all transfer claims at the Destination Office by launching a revamped form 13 software functionality.

Henceforth, once a transfer claim is approved at the transferor (Source) office, the previous account will automatically transferred to the member's present account at the transferee (Destination) office instantly, furthering the aim of ease of living for members of EPFO.

This revamped functionality also provides the bifurcation of taxable and non-taxable components of PF accumulations to facilitate accurate calculation of TDS on taxable PF interest.

It is expected to benefit more than 1.25 crore members facilitating the transfer of around Rs 90,000 crore every year, henceforth as the entire transfer process shall be speeded up, the ministry said.

Also, a facility for the bulk generation of UANs based on Member ID and other available member information has been introduced to ensure prompt crediting of funds to members' accounts.

To that effect, a software functionality has been deployed and made available to Field Offices through the FO Interface, enabling bulk generation of UANs in such cases and accounting for past accumulations without the requirement of Aadhaar in the EPFO application.

However, as a measure of risk mitigation to protect the PF accumulations, all such UANs would be kept in a frozen state and subsequently made operational only after the seeding of Aadhaar.

All these measures are expected to significantly improve services for members and reduce long-standing grievances, including further streamlining of validations for auto settlement of eligible claims.