Why subscribers to EPF or provident fund must know about the UAN?

The Minister of Labour & Employment has asked respective organisations to begin the process of ensuring that all provident fund or Employees Provident Fund subscribers who are part of the PF Act, start initiating the process of allocating a Universal Account Number or UAN.

The move is aimed at speeding up the process of provident fund claims and EPF withdrawals. A Universal Account Number (UAN) will be generated for each of the EPF contributing members, helping you know your PF status.

Super flexibility

Each time you change your job, you have to be contend with the rigorous task of changing your EPF account. Old account details have to be handed over to the new organisation along with a host of other details, which at times are cumbersome.

Now, you will get the Universal Account Number, which will be with you through various organisations and the number will last until you retire or continue subscribing to the EPF India or PPF.

The objective of the UAN is to do away with the multiple identification numbers. This will facilitate a subscriber of EPF to view details of all the Member Identification Numbers (Member Id) linked to it. Another advantage is that it would help check your EPF Balance.

In case there is already an allotment...

In case a subscriber has already been allotted a UAN then he/she is required to provide the same on joining new establishment to enable the employer to in-turn mark the new allotted Member Identification Number (Member Id) to the already allotted Universal Account Number.

Objective

The main reason behind the shift to the UAN is to ensure that KYC details of members are captured in order to do away with the dependence on the employer and to of course improve the quality of service. The KYC details will be tagged against the allotted UAN rather than the Member ID, thus eliminating an outdated operation.

Employers begin the process

Employers have already begun the process and are sending forms to employees to fill in relevant details like employee name, PAN number etc. Once this is returned by the employees the process of allotment of UAN would happen.

Contact details

Employers can contact the toll-free helpline No 1800-118-005 for further assistance in this regard, which would help them begin the process.

Conclusion

As employees, if your company or organisation has not begun the process of getting a UAN allotted, please check with them. Sooner or later you need to move to a new UAN, which is reliable and more convenient. It would help to know your PF status more easily.

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