New Delhi, Sep 11: The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a saving scheme or retirement fund which is taken care of by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). The EPF is created for salaried employees and is established under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act in 1952. Initially, the EPF was available for only industrial workers but was later extended to all salaried employees. As per Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, all organizations that employ 20 people or more are required to register to the EPF and make monthly contributions.

Here's how you can withdraw your PF amount:

In case if an individual has switched job and does not want the PF account transferred, you can withdraw the amount. Form 19 which is available either with employers or can be downloaded from EPFO website epfindia.gov.in, is to be filled and submitted for withdrawing the PF amount.

Once the application is submitted to the regional EPF Office, the PF amount along with the interest earned is received by the applicant within three months from the date of application. Here are three different ways in which you can easily withdraw your PF sum.

There are two ways for the withdrawal:

  1. Submission of a physical application for withdrawal: An individual can get a PF withdrawal form, fill it and submit the same to the Regional Provident Fund Office. It must be noted that procedure requires identity attestation since the PF office would want to be sure whether the right person is applying for withdrawal. The withdrawal form needs to be attested by one of the following listed authorities; any bank manager, a gazetted officer, Magistrate/ Post/ Sub Post Master/ President of Village Panchayat/ Notary Public.

  1. Submission of an online application: The EPFO has very recently come up with the online facility for withdrawal which has made the entire process easier and less time-consuming. If an individual wants to apply for PF amount withdrawal, they can use their Universal Account Number (UAN).  If an individual has a UAN then you he/she can directly apply for pf withdrawal. You do not require your previous employer’s approval for getting this application processed. The UAN is linked with your KYC i.e. Aadhaar, PAN and bank details along with the IFSC code.

Follow the steps EPF withdrawal online:

  1. A user should visit the UAN portal by clicking here

  2. Login with your UAN and password and enter the captcha given below

  3. A user should then click on the ‘Manage’ tab and select KYC to check whether your KYC details such as Aadhaar, PAN and bank details are correct and verified.

  4. Once the KYC details are verified, go to ‘Online Services’ tab and select ‘Claim’ from the drop-down menu.

  5. The ‘Claim’ screen will display the member details, KYC details and other service details.

  6. Click on the tab ‘Proceed For Online Claim’ to submit your claim form.

  7. On the claim form, go to the ‘I Want To Apply For’tab and select from- full EPF Settlement, EPF Part withdrawal (loan/advance) or pension withdrawal.

The EPF is where the employees contribute a small portion of their salary i.e. 12% of their basic pay every month. It must be noted that the Permanent Account Number (PAN) should be seeded in EPFO database for PF final settlement claims in case his/her service is less than 5 years.

Ideally the funds that have been saved should be withdrawn after the retirement of the individual but there are cases where the EPFO allows subscribers to withdraw the funds in their PF account before retirement.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 11, 2018 07:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).