The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) introduced a new facility last year to help employees consolidate funds in their old employee provident fund (EPF) accounts by linking them with one Universal Account Number (UAN).

The EPF is being offers to numerous employees as a means to provide monetary assurance to the employees after they get retired. With EPF, the employees can save some amount of money from their salaries and once they get to retire, the company returns their money with added interest.

Just like the name suggest, employees get a universal account number for identification—which is the provident fund number that does not change irrespective of a change in job. The move is aimed at helping over 45 million EPFO members merge their multiple PF accounts seamlessly with their current UAN.

Tagged ‘One Employee – One EPF account’, the service has now been made available online on the EPFO service portal under employee services. The feature can now be utilized in merging as many as 10 old PF accounts under one UAN.

The UAN is quite beneficial for both employer and employee and here are few benefits of UAN that you must know:

1.  Tracking your EPF passbook

With the help of a UAN member portal login, users can easily track their EPF passbook. Also, it’s very easy to check employer withdrawal, stays claim, identity verification, contribution in EPF, and many more. The UAN makes updating and submitting details related to KYC hassle free.

2.  Link multiple EPF accounts

The UAN makes linking multiple EPF accounts quite straightforward—with the ability to merge as many as 10 PF accounts.

All that is required is your UAN number, current EPF account number linked with UAN number, KYC details—bank account number, IFSC code, Aadhaar number, PAN card number—that is verified by your current employer and an activated UAN.

3.  Making easy withdrawal

To be able to accomplish this, it is important that UAN is properly linked to your bank account. Also, an additional requirement is to ensure that your Aadhaar card and KYC is equally updated with the same account. Once everything has been done and all the documents have been verified, you can now withdraw the amount of money needed without the need of an employer’s signature. Also, another method would be to send an application for withdrawing EPF to the EPFO.

4.  Check EPF balance seamlessly

Earlier, employees had to rely on their company to provide them with a statement of the EPF account. However, with UAN they can now easily check the EPF balance online or with the app.

UAN also makes it possible to receive your EPF account balance via SMS or by simply giving a missed call to 11-22901406 from your registered mobile number. One can equally activate a message alert option to stay updated with the changes or information that is required.

5.  Smooth work processes

Prior to the introduction of UAN, EPFO transferred the balance of EPF to the individual’s account itself. However, after UAN was introduced, it became much easier and time saving to perform this process—as all documents are linked to a PF account which makes transferring funds much easier.