Ministry of Labour & Employment

EPFO allows its members to avail second COVID-19 advance

Decision taken in view of second wave of Covid-19 pandemic

31 MAY 2021

To support its subscribers during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO has now allowed its members to avail of a second non-refundable COVID-19 advance. The provision for special withdrawal to meet the financial need of members during the pandemic was introduced in March 2020, under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). An amendment to this effect was made by the Ministry of Labour & Employment in Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 by inserting therein sub-para (3) under paragraph 68L, through a notification in the Official Gazette.

Under this provision, non-refundable withdrawal to the extent of the basic wages and dearness allowances for three months or up to 75% of the amount standing to member’s credit in the EPF account, whichever is less, is provided. Members can apply for a lesser amount also.

The COVID-19 advance has been a great help to the EPF members during the pandemic, especially for those having monthly wages of less than Rs. 15,000. As of date, EPFO has settled more than 76.31 lakh COVID-19 advance claims thereby disbursing a total of Rs. 18,698.15 crore.

During the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, ‘mucormycosis’ or black fungus has been declared an epidemic recently. In such trying times, EPFO endeavours to lend a helping hand to its members by meeting their financial needs. Members who have already availed of the first COVID-19 advance can now opt for a second advance also. The provision and process for withdrawal of second COVID-19 advance is same as in the case of first advance.

Considering urgent need of members for financial support in these trying times, it has been decided to accord top priority to COVID-19 claims. EPFO is committed to settle these claims within three days of their receipt. For this, EPFO has deployed a system driven auto-claim settlement process in respect of all such members whose KYC requirements is complete in all respects. Auto-mode of settlement enables EPFO to reduce the claim settlement cycle to just 3 days as against the statutory requirement to settle the claims within 20 days.

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Of late, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has taken many steps to make provident fund (PF) accounts more user-friendly. Earlier this month, EPFO allowed its subscribers to file their PF withdrawal applications directly to the retirement fund body without employers’ attestation.

Here is a 10-Point Cheat-Sheet:

1) This facility is applicable for subscribers, if details such as Aadhaar, PAN and bank account are linked to their Universal Account Number (UAN) and their know-your-customer (KYC) verification done by their employers.

2) More than 2 crore subscribers whose KYC norms have been verified by the employers can avail this new withdrawal facility, EPFO said.

3) However, the earlier norm of a waiting period of two months after leaving the previous job still applies for withdrawal purpose.

4) The UAN facility was launched last year to facilitate PF transfers while subscribers change jobs. And all active subscribers have been allotted a number.

5) The easier withdrawal facility will help subscribers who find it difficult to contact their previous employers, financial planners say.

6) Under the earlier process, after leaving a job, employees were supposed to get their withdrawal forms attested through their employers for identification of their details.

7) Withdrawal claims, however, have to be manually submitted by subscribers directly to the provident fund office.

8) Subscribers filing their claims directly without employers’ attestation would have to use new forms that have been simplified for the new process.

9) Subscribers who wish to take an advance from PF account can make partial withdrawal through the submission of Form-31. EPFO allows subscribers to take an advance in certain situations like house construction, repayment of housing loan and education of children and illness.

10) Eventually, the EFPO plans to make the withdrawal process online to make it more subscriber-friendly. The retirement fund body plans to launch the online withdrawal facility this fiscal. (With Agency Inputs)

Source: profit.ndtv.com

The post PF Withdrawal Made Easier, 2 Crore Employees to Benefit: 10 Facts appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

Employees can avail the benefit if details such as Aadhaar number and bank account number have been linked to the EPF UAN and their KYC verification has been done by the employer

New Delhi: Employees will no longer need the approval of their employers to withdraw money from their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) corpus.

If details such as Aadhaar unique identity number and bank account number have been linked to the EPF universal account number (UAN) and their know-your-customer (KYC) verification has been done by the employer, then the employees can avail themselves of the benefit of this hassle-free initiative immediately, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) said on Tuesday.

The state-run retirement fund manager also issued an order on Tuesday to all its field offices across India, instructing them to give effect to the order immediately.

In its quest to make EPFO a more subscriber-friendly organization, the retirement fund manager had delinked the employer from the process, central provident fund commissioner K.K. Jalan said.

Currently, employees need the approval of their employers to withdraw their EPF corpus, leading to unwanted delays on occasion.

Many employees have complained to the EPFO that organizations at times use their approval powers as a tool to harass them.

“Employees whose details like Aadhaar number and bank account number have been seeded into their UAN and whose UAN has been activated, may submit claims in Form 19, Form l0C and Form 31 directly to the commissioner without attestation of their employers, in such form and manner as may be specified by the central provident fund commissioner, for fast settlement of claims,” the EPFO order dated 1 December said.

Since October 2014, the government has allowed EPF number portability through UAN.

All active EPF subscribers have been allotted a UAN which needs to be linked to his Aadhaar and bank account numbers.

The employer verifies the details and approves the KYC details through a digital signature.

But in the past one year, not all EPF subscribers have activated their UAN on the EPFO portal, largely due to three key reasons—lack of awareness, pending KYC and lack of digital signature.

Of the over 40 million active subscribers, only 21 million have activated their UAN, as per data available with the labour ministry.

EPFO authorities said the simplified withdrawal process will work as a catalyst to persuade more employers to get their KYC done and activate their UAN.

“As a retirement fund body, we are now focusing on our subscribers. We are turning subscriber-friendly and hope more people can take benefit from it,” said Jalan, adding that as the corpus and the subscriber base grows, EPFO will continue to adopt new practices.

EPFO has a corpus of more than Rs.8 trillion—Rs.6 trillion directly under it and another Rs.2 trillion with exempted trusts and company trusts who manage their own EPF under the direct supervision of the EPFO. The corpus has been growing by 15% every year for the last couple of years.

Sharad Patil, secretary general of Employers Federation of India, said that the move looks “logical”. “If the withdrawal happens through Aadhaar and bank account, it will reduce the settlement period and also cut down the chance of corruption in the EPFO,” Patil said.

Source: Livemint.com

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