Presently, subscribers of the retirement fund body, Employees’Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) are required to file the transfer of employee provident fund (EPF) claims when they switch jobs, even if the possess a universal account number (UAN). However, this transfer process will be automated with effect from 2020.
The automated process is still being tested. With the help of C-DAC, the EPFO is trying to adopt paperless processes. Right now, only about 80 per cent of the organisation’s work is being managed online.
Once the transfer process is automated, the moment the new employer files the monthly EPF return, which includes the UAN of the new employee, the EPF contributions along with the interest earned on the same will get automatically transferred. As a result, the concerned employee’s credits of his EPF contribution in his previous job, will get transferred into her or his UAN.
Currently, on changing a job, a subscriber is required to give his UAN to the new employer, who deposits the EPF contributions against the same. However, this UAN account does not show the EPF contributions made in the previous job or the interest that accrued on the same. The subscriber has to go through a lengthy process of filing an online claim via the activated UAN to receive the credits of EPF contributions in the previous employment.
Once the process is automated, the subscriber’s UAN will serve almost as a bank account. Even if the subscribers change jobs, their benefits will be accessible via the UAN, which will be a permanent number that will never be changed.
