The UAN or the Universal Account number is a 12 digit unique number allotted to each member of Employee Provident Fund (EPF) which helps him to control all his EPF accounts. The UAN will be associated with an employee and will connect all his PF (Provident Fund) accounts across organizations.
Features and Benefits of UAN
The UAN will also assist EPFO in tracking the job changes of every employee. If an individual changes his job, he will have to give the UAN number to his employer to link the new PF account. In this way, EPFO will have updated information on where a person is employed at any time. Also, UAN will stop people from making unnecessary EPF withdrawals when they switch jobs.
The main benefits of UAN is as follows.
- Employees can connect all their PF accounts to one single unified account.
- Employees can withdraw their PF online by using the UAN.
- Transferring the PF amount from old account to a new account is also made easy with the UAN.
- Employees can check their EPF balance instantly using the UAN member portal online. Also, by sending an SMS with UAN number, the employee can get to know the PF balance.
- UAN is an identification number that is independent of employers. There will be any need for the employer to authenticate your profile if your UAN is Aadhaar and KYC verified.
- UAN will help the employees to manage their PF accounts online and this would mean that any employer will not be able to hold back the PF amount of any employee.
- Employees would be able to track if the company is depositing the PF every month or if the company is delaying the PF contribution just by registering on the UAN portal.
Advantages of UAN to Employees
Employees who have linked together all their PF accounts with UAN will get the following benefits.
- No Involvement of Employer in PF WithdrawalsCurrently, any request for PF withdrawal has to pass through your previous employer, has to be signed and then forwarded to the EPFO. With the UAN, the employer intervention is reduced. The PF money in your previous account will be automatically transferred to the new PF account after the KYC verification is complete.
- No need to Transfer FundsTransferring the PF amount from one employer account to other users to be a lengthy, tedious process. With the advent of UAN, there will be no need to transfer funds at all. To change the accounts, all you have to do is mention the KYC and UAN details to the new employer. Once these details are verified by your new employer, the PF amount from the old account will be transferred to the new account automatically. For old PF accounts which were opened before the UAN allotment, the transfer is still done through either digital or physical form.
- SMS Alerts for Easy ManagementBy registering on the EPF portal, employees will receive SMS alerts from the EPFO when a contribution is made either by the employer or the employee. The alerts will be very similar to those you get on your phone every time your bank savings account is debited or credited. By downloading the PF passbook from the EPF portal by mentioning the UAN, you can also check your total balance.
- Enhanced Effectiveness of Employee Pension SchemeMany employees preferred to withdraw their PF amount from one account while switching jobs because the withdrawal was easier than PF transfer. But, an important point to remember is when the PF money is withdrawn, the fund contributed towards Employee Pension Scheme is also withdrawn. This greatly impacts the pension that you will receive after retirement. With UAN, the EPF account and under that, the EPS is also transferred automatically. Instead of withdrawing, transferring EPF money will directly result in greater pension money after retirement.
What is PF and how will UAN Benefit PF Account holders?
The PF or Provident Fund is an amount which is deducted from your salary each month and deposited in your PF account on your behalf. For employees of private companies, the organization will pay the same amount as it is debited from your salary. When you leave the organization, you will be able to withdraw or transfer your PF account money. In a way, PF is like a personal saving that you make every month. In case you retire, you will be able to get a lump sum amount. Here are some of the special benefits that come with Provident Fund.
- Employee Pension Scheme There are basically two elements to your PF, EPF which is the Employee Provident Fund and EPS which is the Employee Pension Scheme which was introduced first in 1995. Hence, your PF entitles for pension too.
- EPF for help at Special Occasions In case of an emergency or special occasions where you are in need of some money. you can withdraw the EPF corpus but with a certain limit and by satisfying some specified conditions.
- Medical Emergency For unexpected medical emergencies where a lump sum is required, PF amount can be withdrawn and used for medical treatments like surgery, chemotherapy etc.
- Personal Goals If you have to arrange funds for personal events like education for self of children, marriage or education for siblings, you can withdraw up to 50% of your contribution from the EPF corpus fund.
- Insurance Benefits In any company where the group insurance scheme is not available to the employees, insurance benefits will be provided through EDLI (Employee Deposit Linked Insurance) scheme.
When you switch from one company to the other, you can either choose to transfer your PF account or withdraw the money. But, because it is a tedious and time-consuming process, many employees leave their previous PF accounts untouched. This way, an employee has to face the hassles of managing a number of PF accounts. With UAN, this whole scenario changes. The following benefits that come with UAN will help you in managing your PF accounts better.
- With a UAN, you will be able to link all your PF accounts together.
- All you have to do to bring your PF accounts together is give your UAN to current employer. After KYC verification, you will be able to view and manage all accounts.
- You will get notifications on your mobile every time your employer makes a monthly deposit in your PF account. This way you can ensure that there are no lags and delays in the PF payment.
- Your employer will have less control over your PF accounts if you link it through the UAN.
- You can easily transfer and withdraw the PF amount online without any hassles.
- Because employees can transfer PF accounts without any problems, the closing of PF accounts in case of a job change will reduce. This means all employees who still operate their old PF accounts will get a lump sum on retirement when money is needed the most.
What can I do with UAN Number?
With UAN number, you can do a variety of things which will help you in managing your PF account better. Here are some things that you can do with your UAN number.
- The UAN number is portable throughout your career. You just have to provide it to your new employer, in case you shift jobs, to get your old PF accounts linked together with UAN.
- You can download the UAN card by providing your UAN number on the EPFO web portal.
- The scanned copies of KYC documents of the employee can be uploaded online and can be verified by the employer.
- You can check transfer claims on EPFO web portal by mentioning your UAN.
- With UAN number, all PF accounts can check their balance instantly by downloading the EPF passbook provided online.
- All your previous PF member IDs can be uploaded online using the UAN.
- With UAN, transferring funds from previous PF account to new account has been made completely hassle-free. After KYC verification, the PF amount will be automatically given to the new employer.
- The easy process of transferring PF accounts will encourage people to maintain their PF accounts and not withdraw the money. This means the account holder will get a higher pension after retirement when the need for money arises.
How to get UAN?
At present, the UAN allotment is done only for those employees in service from 1st January 2014 to 30th June 2014. In this process, 41.7 million subscribers have got their UAN number for this period. Getting the UAN number is very simple, all you have to do is follow the easy steps described below.
- EPFO will provide unique PF number to all employers.
- The employer will have to include the UAN for employees who contribute to PF with the new member ID.
- Employees have to submit KYC documents including ID proof and address proof. The following documents will have to be provided.
- Identity Proof – PAN card, Aadhaar or Passport
- Bank account details including account number and the bank IFSC code
- Address Proof – Ration Card, Driving license, passport or voter ID
- The employer will have to take up the responsibility of verifying the KYC documents submitted by the employee. The new member ID will then be linked to UAN by the employer.
- After KYC verification is complete, the employees will have to register themselves on the UAN website. Activate UAN Based registration must be selected and the following mandatory details have to be entered.
- Mobile number
- Member ID provided by the new employer
- UAN number offered by the employer. The user ID will be your UAN for all future logins on the web portals.
- Once the mandatory details are all submitted, an OTP PIN will be sent to your mobile.
- After entering the OTP PIN, you will have to enter the following details.
- Date of birth
- Father/husband name and other details
- You will be asked to submit a new password. After this, the registration is complete and you will be able to view your updated EPF passbook.
Registering UAN
Follow the steps given below to easily register your UAN online.
- After receiving the UAN from the employer, log on to the official website of EPFO services where you can activate your UAN. Select “Activate UAN based registration” and provide details about your UAN, member ID and mobile number.
- After you have submitted the details, you will receive a PIN for authorization on your mobile. After you have entered the PIN, the screen will allow you to create a login and a password using which you can access the facilities in UAN portal.
- The username will always be your UAN while you can select your password.
UAN Login
You can log on to the EPF official website using your username as UAN and password. After logging in, you will be able to do the following.
- Download the UAN card and passbook
- View PF linking status and list all member IDs
- View transfer claim status, file transfer claim and system generated transfer claim status
- Edit personal details including mobile number and email id
- Update KYC information and upload KYC documents
- View helpdesk contacts
