EPFO Alert: For salaried employees, provident fund money is their lifetime earnings. In such a situation, it is very important for you to know about the rules related to EPFO.
As long as you remain in the job, you contribute to the EPF and when you retire, you have a sufficient amount, from which you can use this money on essential things in your old age. But many times it happens that due to lack of information or due to some mistakes, the PF account gets closed.
So it is very important for you to know that you should not make any such mistake. Account may be closed If you have not transferred your PF account from the company in which you used to work earlier, and the old company got closed. In such a situation, if there is no transaction from your PF account for 36 months i.e. money was not put in it, then your PF account will be closed. EPFO keeps such accounts in the ‘dormant’ category.
How will it be active again?
Once the account is ‘inactive’ you will not be able to transact, you will have to apply to EPFO to reactivate the account. Even after being ‘inactive’, interest continues to accrue on the money lying in the account, that is, your money is not sunk, you get it back. Earlier, interest was not available on these accounts. But, in 2016 the rules were amended and interest was introduced. You should know that till the age of 58 years, interest continues to accrue on your PF account.
When is the account ‘inactive’?
- According to the new rules, the EPF account becomes ‘inactive’ if the employee has not applied for withdrawal of EPF balance.
- Even after 36 months of retirement when the member turns 55 years after that
- When the member permanently settles abroad
- If a member died
- If the member has withdrawn all superannuation funds
- If you have not claimed the PF account for 7 years, then this fund is put in the Senior Citizen Welfare Fund.
What are the instructions regarding EPFO?
EPFO has said in one of its circulars that there is a need to be careful in settlement of claims related to dormant accounts. Care should be taken that the risk related to fraud is minimized and the claim is paid to the right claimants.
Who will authenticate dormant PF accounts
In order to settle the claim relating to inoperative PF accounts, it is necessary that the employer of the employee substantiate that claim. However, if the employees whose company is closed and there is no one to certify the claim, the bank will authenticate such claim on the basis of KYC documents.
Which documents will be required?
KYC documents include PAN Card, Voter ID Card, Passport, Ration Card, ESI ID Card, Identity Card, Driving License. Apart from this, any other identity card issued by the government like Aadhaar can also be used for this. After this, the Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner or other officers will be able to approve the withdrawal or transfer of the account according to the amount.
With whose approval the amount will be received
If the amount exceeds Rs.50 thousand, the amount will be withdrawn or transferred after the approval of the Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner. Similarly, if the amount is more than 25 thousand rupees and less than 50 thousand rupees, then the account officer will be able to approve the fund transfer or withdrawal. If the amount is less than Rs 25,000 then the dealing assistant can approve it.
