UAN Activation Deadline: There is good news for crores of subscribers of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). EPFO has extended the deadline for UAN activation and linking of bank account with Aadhaar to avail benefits under the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme till January 15, 2025. Its original deadline was November 30, 2024, which was later extended to December 15, 2024. Now the deadline has been extended again.
UAN Activation Deadline: Activating the Universal Account Number (UAN) and linking the bank account with Aadhaar is mandatory for employees who want to claim the monetary benefits of the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme. It is administered through the EPFO. If you want to avail the benefits of the ELI scheme, you have to complete this mandatory process. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced this new scheme during the Union Budget 2024 in July. EPFO has informed about the extension of the deadline in a circular. The question is why do you need to link Aadhaar to the bank account to get ELI benefits? ELI money is to be deposited using DBT, so Aadhaar needs to be linked to the bank account. The Ministry of Labor and Employment said in a circular issued on November 22, 2024 that the benefits under the ELI scheme will be distributed to the eligible employees through DBT, so employers are urged to ensure UAN activation and Aadhaar seeding in the bank account in respect of all their employees.
Why is it important
According to the ministry, every subscriber of EPFO is required to have a Universal Account Number (UAN) linked to Aadhaar, which has to be activated by creating a login on the member portal so that many facilities can be availed from a single window. Such facilities include the ability to view and download PF passbooks, submit online claims for withdrawal, advance or transfer, update personal details and track the status of claims in real time. The activation process is simple and can be completed using Aadhaar-based OTP. ELI has three schemes A, B and C. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her Budget 2024 speech that Scheme A will focus on employment and first-time entrants to the EPF scheme. Scheme B will focus on job creation in manufacturing and Scheme C will focus on providing support to employers. Scheme A will provide one month’s salary to all those entering the workforce across all formal sectors. First-time job entrants registered with the EPFO will be paid one month’s salary in three installments up to Rs 15,000 in direct benefits. The eligibility limit will be a salary of up to Rs 1 lakh per month.
How much will be the benefit
Scheme B will encourage additional employment in the manufacturing sector linked to the employment of first-time job entrants. Incentives will be provided on a specified scale directly to both the employee and the employer in respect of their EPFO contributions in the first four years of employment. Scheme C is an employer-centric scheme that will cover additional employment across all sectors. All additional employment within the salary of Rs 1 lakh per month will be counted. The government will reimburse employers up to Rs 3,000 per month for two years for EPFO contribution for each additional employee.
The last date for activating the Universal Account Number (UAN) has been fixed as November 30. It is a 12-digit unique identification number. This number is provided by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). Both employers and employees are given this number so that they can contribute to the EPF account.
There is good news for EPFO members. EPFO has once again extended the deadline to upload salary and other information about 3 lakh 10 thousand pending applications related to higher pension. For this, they have been given time till January 31.
