The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a retirement savings scheme for salaried employees in India managed by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). It acts like a long-term retirement plan and also serves as a financial net during unexpected financial challenges.
Understanding how to make a claim, track your EPFO claim status, determine your eligibility, or select the correct form is crucial for a smooth process. The blog guides you through the key steps and offers a clear path to help you initiate and manage your EPF claim with utmost ease.
Before filing an EPFO claim, it is important to familiarise yourself with the correct form based on your age, employment status, and withdrawal reason.
| Form | Case Suitability for PF Claim |
|---|---|
| Form 13 | To transfer the accumulated EPFO fund to a new EPF account after a job change |
| Form 14 | To make a payment for a LIC policy |
| Form 31 | To request a withdrawal in certain cases |
| Form 19 | To make a final settlement |
| Form 20 | To claim a deceased member’s EPF account as a nominee/beneficiary |
An individual with an EPFO account is eligible to raise their PF withdrawal claim if they meet the following criteria:
| Qualification | Condition | Claim Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Early retirement | Account holder applying one year early (54 years old) | 90% |
| Post-retirement | Individuals who are 55 years and above | 100% |
| Unemployment for one month | Upon resuming employment, the employee must transfer 25% to their new EPF account | 75% |
| Continuous unemployment | Two or more months of constant unemployment | 100% |
There are four main stages in the EPFO claim status process. They are as follows:
| EPFO Status | Meaning of Each Stage |
|---|---|
| Payment under process | This section indicates that the claim is currently being processed. When the EPFO transfers funds to your bank account, the status will update to 'Claim Settled.' |
| Settled | The claim has been successfully processed and approved by EPFO. The funds have either been transferred to the bank account or will be credited shortly. |
| Rejected | The previous or current employer may deny a claim for reasons such as a signature mismatch, inaccurate details, or failure to submit the signed claim printout within 15 days of filing it online. |
| Not available | The ‘Not Available’ status applies before the claim is processed. |
To know the EPFO withdrawal status, keep the following information/documents handy.
There are three easy ways to check your EPF claim status online. They are as follows:
Also read : EPF Balance Check with and without UAN Number
Follow the given instructions to check the PF claim status offline.
To receive SMS in a language other than English, add the first three letters of your preferred language after the UAN. At present, the EPFO supports a total of 10 languages.
| Languages Supported |
|---|
| English - Default |
| Hindi - HIN |
| Bengali - BEN |
| Tamil - TAM |
| Telugu - TEL |
| Marathi - MAR |
| Punjabi - PUN |
| Malayalam - MAL |
| Kannada - KAN |
| Gujarati - GUJ |
You cannot currently cancel an EPF claim once it has been submitted online. You can, however, file a grievance through the EPFiGMS portal or submit a written request to the EPFO regional office, urging them to halt the process as soon as possible.
Navigating your Employee Provident Fund benefits doesn't have to be complicated. You can easily check your PF claim status through online methods, such as the UAN member portal, the EPFO website, or the UMANG app, or offline methods, such as sending an SMS, making a missed call, or contacting the EPFO toll-free number.
Moreover, once the EPFO claim status has been submitted and processed, it cannot generally be cancelled. Hence, gain a comprehensive understanding of the various claim types and learn what you can expect from them to have invaluable control over your retirement savings.
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