The slice of your income that gets deducted—12 percent of your basic salary—towards provident fund goes to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation of India (EPFO). A matching amount is contributed by the employer, too. The money deducted is given to the employee when the person is unable to work or when he/she retires.
How to check Provident Fund Online? Here’s how.
EPF withdrawal by employees can, however, be done earlier itself i.e. during the course of their employment, says Archit Gupta of ClearTax.
When can EPF be withdrawn
You want to only withdraw a part of your EPF? You can. You may choose to withdraw EPF completely or partially.
Full withdrawal of EPF
EPF can be completely withdrawn:
a) When an individual retires from employment
b) When an individual remains unemployed for a period of two months or more. However, this fact—of not being employed for over two months—has to be certified by a gazetted officer. Complete withdrawal of EPF while switching over from one job to another without remaining unemployed for two months or more, will be against the PF rules and regulations and therefore illegal.
Partial withdrawal of EPF
Partial withdrawal of EPF can be done under certain circumstances and subject to certain prescribed conditions which have been discussed in brief below:
How to withdraw EPF
a) Submission of a physical application for withdrawal: Download the new composite claim (Aadhaar)/ composite claim form (Non-Aadhaar) from here.
The new composite claim form (Aadhar) can be filled and submitted to the respective jurisdictional EPFO office without the attestation of the employer whereas, the new composite claim form (Non-aadhaar) should be filled and submitted with the attestation of the employer to the respective jurisdictional EPFO office.
In case of partial withdrawal of EPF amount by an employee for various circumstances as discussed in the above table, very recently, the requirement to furnish various certificates has been done away with and the option of self-certification has been introduced for the EPF subscribers. (For details, you can refer order dated 20.02.2017 of the EPFO by clicking here)
Submission of an online application
The EPFO has very recently come up with the online facility of withdrawal which has rendered the entire process easier and less time-consuming.
Prerequisite: To apply for withdrawal of EPF online through EPF Portal, make sure that the following conditions are met:
a) UAN (Universal Account Number) is activated and the mobile number used for activating the UAN is in working condition
b) UAN is linked with your KYC i.e. Aadhaar, PAN and bank details along with the IFSC code.
If the above conditions are met, then the requirement of an attestation of the previous employer to carry out the process of withdrawal can be done away with.
Steps to apply for EPF withdrawal online:
Step 1: Go to the UAN portal by clicking here.
Step 2: Login with your UAN and password and enter the captcha.
Step 3: Then, click on the tab ‘Manage’ and select KYC to check whether your KYC details such as Aadhaar, PAN and bank details are correct and verified or not.
Step 4: After the KYC details are verified, go to the tab Online Services’ and select the option ‘Claim’ from the drop-down menu.
Step 5: The ‘Claim’ screen will display the member details, KYC details and other service details. Click on the tab ‘Proceed For Online Claim’ to submit your claim form.
Step 6: In the claim form, select the claim you require i.e full EPF Settlement, EPF Part withdrawal (loan/advance) or pension withdrawal, under the tab ‘I Want To Apply For’. If the member is not eligible for any of the services like PF withdrawal or pension withdrawal, due to the service criteria, then that option will not be shown in the drop-down menu.
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