Employee Provident Fund: How to Transfer it on Changing to New Job?

Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is a scheme that is administered under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. Further, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is that governing body which regulates the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme.

Employee Provident Fund is more like an advantage offered to the employees by the concerned employer at the time of their retirement. Thus, every employer who has the employee strength of 20 or more employees working in his or her company needs to acquire Employee Provident Fund registration mandatorily.

After acquiring the registration for EPF, the employer has to contribute 12 per cent in the Provident fund. This contribution of 12 per cent will be from employee’s basic salary plus DA (dearness allowance) and retaining allowance. Further, an equal contribution is required from the employee side as well. Also, the specified contribution is reduced to 10 per cent, if in case the concerned organization is choosing the option of voluntary registration with a count of less than 20 employees in the organization.

1. The employer is compulsorily required to register for the Employee Provident Fund (EPF). If the number of employees in the organization exceeds the count of 20.
2. When the Central government issues any notification regarding EPF registration in the official gazette for an organization with the employee strength of less than 20 employees.
3. Any establishment which is having the employee strength of less than 20 has received a notice regarding compulsory registration within two months.
4. If in case any establishment with less than 20 employees wants to go for the option of voluntary registration, then in this case employer is required to contribute only 10 per cent instead of 12 per cent.

1. Pension Coverage: Besides from the employee’s contribution in the Provident Fund, the employer also needs to add an equal amount of the Employee Provident Fund, which also includes the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS). Hence, the EPF helps the employee in saving the right amount of pension money.
2. Emergency Fund: In case of any mishaps, hardships, weddings, or an emergency, the amount saved in the Employee Provident Fund can be of great help.
3. Covering Financial Risk: If in case the employee falls ill, or incompetent, or retire or die, then amount saved in the Provident Fund can help his legal representatives and dependents financially by covering the majority of financial risk in such cases.
4. Employee Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme: Every individual having a Provident Fund account can avail the benefits of this plan. As, it requires only 0.5 per cent of the salary deduction.
5. Single Account: Even if the employee decides to change his organization, then also he or she can carry on with the same provident fund account in other organizations as well.
6. Long Term Goals: The provident funds would be of good help if it is carried for the long term duration. Further, it can be useful for buying a property, etc.

1. Copy of the company’s or firm or trust or societies PAN Card
2. Copy of the cancelled cheque
3. Copy of the Partnership Firm or LLP or Proprietorship or Public Limited Companies or Private Limited Companies registration certificate
4. Partnership Deed for the Partnership Firm
5. PAN Card details of the Directors or Proprietors or Partners
6. Copy of the Director’s or Proprietor’s Aadhar Card, Passport, Voter ID
7. Company’s Memorandum of Association (MOA) or Articles of Association (AOA)
8. Bye-laws and Memorandum of Association (MOA) of the Trust and Society
9. Certificate of GST Registration, if in case required
10. First sale bill
11. Postal Address of the employees
12. First Purchase bill of the raw material and machinery
13. Salary of the employees
14. Voluntary application
15. Employment agreement
16. Employee’s date of joining together with his date of birth and his father’s name
17. Complete list regarding the count of employees strength in a month
18. Bank’s name together with the Bank’s address
19. Director’s Digital Signature Certificate
20. Director’s Director Identification Number
21. Bank account number together with the IFSC code
22. Name of employee’s nominees
23. Balance sheet
24. Provident fund and salary statement
25. Other documents and details as applicable and requested

Following are the steps of the required for obtaining EPF Registration:

1. Generating the User Id and Password: The concerned applicant is required to first visit the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) official website. After visiting now click on the option of “Establishment Registration.” After clicking on the required button, the applicant will be redirected towards the “Sharm Savidha,” Ministry of Labor and Employment’s website. Further, over there, the concerned applicant can register himself by filling the required details and particulars like the Name, Mobile Number, Email and the captcha provided to generate the User Id and Password.
2. Accepting Terms and conditions: For the Establishment registration, the applicant is required to carefully read the User Manual provided, as it contains all the important rules and regulations. Further, the applicant can proceed further only if he agrees with all the terms and conditions given in the User Manual.
3. Obtaining Digital Signature Certificate: The next step is to obtain the digital signature certificate, the applicants are required to obtain a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). It helps in filling and submitting the fresh forms online. Further, the Employers who have already registered with their Employee Provident fund can now log in either with their password or their UAN (Universal Account Number).
4. Filing all the required details: Now the next step declares that after acquiring DSC, the applicant can move forward by agreeing with the instructions on the User Manual instructions along with filling all the needed details of both the employer and the employee. Further, the information concerning both parties’ names, address, and PAN No etc. needs to be filled accurately. The questions marked with a red asterisk are mandatory to be answered.
5. Procedure for filing details: Firstly, the applicant needs to fill his or her name, including middle and last name as well, as stated in the Income Tax statements. Thereafter, the employer is mandatorily required to enter his PAN card number, as this will verify its identity and check whether he has registered earlier or not. After entering the PAN Card no, the employer can proceed further by filling his username and password. This username will help the concerned employer to log in for his application. The next step for the user is to choose the hint question and answer which would be asked to him if in case he forgets his password. Lastly, the applicant is required to enter his mobile number to generate One Time Password (OTP) and E-mail to verify and cross-check the applicant’s email address.

When an employee decides to switch his or her job, he or she has two options regarding the EPF balance. Firstly, the concerned employee can for withdrawing his contribution together with interest. However, for this, the concerned employee needs to be on a break of at least sixty days. Further, the second and most suggested option is to transfer the same balance to the current employer. Furthermore, it is always suggested to go for the second option, i.e. transferring the amount in the provident fund to the current employer, due to retirement benefits and tax reasons.

Firstly, the employee is needed to log in to the Unified Portal by using his given username and password. Next, the employee is expected to click on the button “One Member-One EPF Account (Transfer Request). This option is available under Online Services. Now, the employee is required to select his former or previous employer to attest the form of transfer claim. This request is further validated through One Time Password (OTP). The employee will then be required to fill form 13 and submit it together with the physical copy of the online form for Transfer claim.

Every year the Employee Provident Fund Organization gets approximately nine to ten lakh requests. Earlier it was a separate online exercise, which the employees were required to do changing job. However, with the changes made by the government, the employee will not be needed to file the form for transfer claim. Now, the new employer will instead inform the Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) of the transference, without any requirement of undertaking any separate formality. Just by merely entering the employee’s Universal Account Number (UAN) in its monthly return of employee provident fund, the UAN (Universal Account Number) will automatically fetch all the balance and interest accrued against it. These details will be for the working tenure of the employee with his former employer.