As a social security or retirement-focused investment, the employees’ provident fund (EPF) is compulsory for the salaried in most private sector organisations.
In an ideal scenario, you would work for a single employer and tap into tax-free corpus at the time of retirement.
However, our actual experience is far from ideal. And therefore have to transfer the corpus from one employer to another. Some have to make premature withdrawals as they become self-employed or move out — forced or otherwise — of formal workforce a lot earlier than their usual retirement. Many also tap into a portion of the EPF corpus for specific purposes – medical, educational, housing etc.
And therein lie all the challenges. Go through social and even some mainstream media content on EPF, and you would find many complaining about not being able to make transfers, or facing claim rejections while applying for full or partial withdrawals, often for reasons they see as trivial.
And the rants or outpourings of EPF subscribers isn’t without basis.
Data from the EPFO’s 2023-24 annual report indicates that of the 5.61 crore claims made by subscribers for PF transfers, final settlements and partial withdrawals/advances, 1.34 crore applications or nearly 24 per cent were rejected. These numbers do not include pension and insurance (EDLI) claims.
So, we have a situation where nearly one in four applications is rejected. Specifically, 21.4 lakh (over 30 per cent) of the 70.3 lakh applications on final settlement, 29.5 lakh (26.3 per cent) of the total 1.12 crore applications on transfers and around 83 lakh (22 per cent) of the 3.78 crore applications related to partial withdrawals/advances were rejected.
Whether you seek settlement, part withdrawal or transfer of your EPF account, there are some important steps involved along the way that need to be followed as scrupulously as possible for desired outcomes.
Also, there are many eligibility and preset conditions, especially for settlements or part withdrawals, which need to be fully understood.
We highlight where things could go wrong while transferring, withdrawing or taking final settlement and in each of these cases, we give pointers on how to follow the prescribed measures smartly or set things right to avoid a rejection.
Timeliness in taking actions is important as otherwise it could lead to loss of interest or pushing of accounts into dormancy in some cases.
The know your customer (KYC) norms are also important and affect all three transactions and will be discussed separately.
KYC: The all-important part
Perhaps the crux of all issues pertaining to rejections or delays in EPF transfers, withdrawals or settlements lies in the KYC process not being followed diligently and information mismatch in the pension fund’s records and what your official records show.
For all processes, the KYC process holds the key.
If you haven’t done the complete KYC of your EPF-UAN account, you must do so immediately.
You must have your Aadhaar, PAN, photograph (passport size for uploading), bank details and other address or identity proof documents in place.
The bank account you use must be your current active one and must offer you cheque leaves with your name on them. Cheques need to be scanned and uploaded as a part of the KYC process.
The process is entirely online and must be done by the employee.
Once you finish the KYC submission online, the process takes it to your employer who will then approve it. Once this is done, the EPFO then approves it, after which it gets reflected in your UAN account. You could receive an SMS as well upon completion of KYC.
Here are some pointers to how things can go wrong and how they could be avoided.
Your name, date of birth and gender must match with the official documents that you have submitted. If the name in the UAN portal differs from what your Aadhaar carries, your KYC could be rejected.
In case of name change due to marriage or any other personal reason, you will have to get it corrected in your Aadhaar first. A marriage certificate (for marriage) or a gazette notification (for other personal reasons) would be needed. Once it is corrected in the Aadhaar, you can log into your UAN portal and update the details.
Sometimes, your father’s name may also be spelt differently in your Aadhaar and UAN. This also needs rectification.
Your PAN and Aadhaar must be linked before you start the process. If not done till now, it must be completed immediately.
The cheque you scan must be of good quality. Do not upload photocopies, but only the scanned ones of the original.
Making effective transfers
One of the supposedly smoothest aspects of EPF operations is transferring your balance to your latest employer from the previous one(s). But as indicated in the data above, there could be hiccups along the way, leading to rejections or inordinate delays from the EPFO’s side.
Ideally, you must initiate the process of PF transfer from earlier employers along with your joining formalities on or within a few days of joining your new workplace.
You can initiate the transfers online by logging into the EPFO-UAN subscriber portal. The form 13 is prescribed for the purpose.
The UAN portal should (ideally) have the entire history of all your employments ever since you joined formal workforce.
Usually, all companies have an establishment ID that is unique. There are member IDs (your PF numbers relating to each employer) and the UAN (universal account number).
The PF balances from all your employments can be transferred to your present company.
Among the simplest of reasons for being unable to transfer EPF is not marking the date of exit (last working day) in one or more of your previous employments. Earlier, employers had to mark this exit date. However, employees themselves are allowed to do it now in case the companies haven’t done so.
You can do it in the UAN portal. For marking the exit, you will need your Aadhaar, PAN, mobile number (linked to Aadhaar) and bank account details.
Once you enter all the details related to the form 13 (member ID, PF numbers, PAN, Aadhaar etc), you will receive an OTP on your mobile for confirmation. You can check after a few days if the details are updated.
Then there is the case of multiple UANs. For any EPF subscriber, the UAN is supposed to be unique with one number mapped to all EPF accounts.
Unfortunately, there are many cases where multiple UANs have been issued as linking with Aadhaar was not mandatory before 2021. There could be a situation where UANs are linked to different member IDs and PF numbers in your account, which you may not have noticed earlier.
In such cases, you must work to transfer all balances under the earlier UAN to your present PF number and UAN with the present employer. Transfer of balances happens as mentioned in the earlier process.
This would be possible only if all UANs, past and present, are KYC-compliant.
Once you get all the balances transferred to your current active UAN, you can seek deactivation of past UAN(s).
You must take the help of your employer in such cases as it would be easier for follow-up.
Additionally, you can write to the EPFO or give a physical application to the regional PF office.
You must definitely look to transfer your balances as early as possible. If you forget or do not pursue the transfer, you will lose on a lot of interest income.
The EPF pays interest to a PF number only for three years after monthly contributions have stopped into that specific account. After the 36-month period, the account is marked inactive or dormant. No further interest is paid.
If you spent long years in another company and did not transfer your EPF, you lose out on earning considerable interest on the total corpus (EPF balances from your earlier and current employers). Worse, the interest earned on the EPF balance till it turned dormant becomes taxable. For example, if say ₹5 lakh continues to stay in a dormant account for five years, you could lose out on nearly ₹2.4 lakh in interest payouts over this period.
Smoother settlements and part withdrawals
Whether you are retired or someone moving away from formal workforce for some reason (self-employment, early retirement, long sabbatical etc.), you can take full settlement of your EPF amount. The form 19 needs to be filled for this purpose.
For those who have rendered five or more years of service with regular EPF contributions, full withdrawals are allowed when they cease being in formal employment.
Up to 75 per cent of the accumulated EPF corpus can be withdrawn after one month of being unemployed and the remaining 25 per cent can be pulled out two months after moving away from the workforce.
No TDS will be deducted for those withdrawing after five years of service and now not in employment. A form can be submitted to this effect online at the time of making the claim.
All KYC-related matters must be current and updated before you make settlement claims.
If you are on a temporary break and see yourself returning to regular employment a year or so down the line, you must avoid making settlement claims and must instead transfer it to your next employer.
Then there are part withdrawals that are allowed for specific purposes and come with conditions and limits.
Form 31 is filled for part withdrawals. There are many cases for which part withdrawals are allowed. We will consider a few key ones.
For child’s college education, you are allowed to withdraw 50 per cent of your contribution (employee’s portion) to EPF with interest. You need to have put in seven years of service at least to avail the benefit.
In case you want the money for your own marriage or that of children or sibling, you can withdraw 50 per cent of your total contributions provided you rendered seven years of service at least.
For land purchase, construction or purchase of a new house or repayment of a home loan, you can withdraw up to 90 per cent of the total accumulated corpus in the EPF account. The house must be in your name or your spouse’s name or must be jointly held by both. You need to have put in only three years of service for taking this benefit.
In the case of medical emergencies, you are allowed to withdraw six months’ worth of basic and DA (dearness allowance) amount or your (employee’s) entire EPF share with interest, whichever is lower. There is no mandated service requirement for withdrawals made for medical expenses.
You must note that any part withdrawal made before five years of service will entail a TDS on the amount disbursed. The rate is 10 per cent for amounts in excess of ₹50,000 (if service rendered is for less than five years).
The EPFO has some presence in social media and brings out content, including self-help videos periodically, highlighting issues relating to EPF matters that can be useful for subscribers.
SOCIALEPFO is the YouTube channel, @social_epfo is the Instagram account, while @socialepfo is the X handle for EPFO.
A few other pointers are worth following in case of claim rejection without satisfactory reasons. You can approach the regional PF office and lodge a complaint or raise a query for clarity.
The EPFiGMS portal on the EPFO site provides the facility to lodge complaints online. An email ID, (employeefeedback@epfindia.gov.in) is available as well. A toll-free number 1800 118 005 is also provided.
In case anyone in the PF office asks for money to settle your PF amount, you can escalate it to the vigilance division (CVO, EPFO) in New Delhi.
Published on July 26, 2025