Got New Job, Go Ahead With Existing EPF Account As PF Money Transfer Made Easier

New Delhi: With an objective of making PF money transfer much easier, when employees change jobs, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched a new form to transfer the accounts. The new declaration form (New Form No. 11) will replace the existing Form No. 11 (Your read it correctly. May be EPFO is using 'new' word on the new form). The new form is available on the EPFO’s website http://uanmembers.epfoservices.in for employers as well as employees. The form requires information about the previous employment and the know-your-customer (KYC) details.

Generally, employees are facing problem of opening new employee provident fund (EPF) and closing of PF accounts as and when they change jobs instead of transferring the old one to the new employer. The major reason for this is that employees find the transfer process complicated. Hence, they prefer to open a new EPF account instead.

According to the EPFO, it has been observed since the launch of Universal Account Number (UAN, which is allotted to employees by the EPFO), that multiple UANs were being generated by the subscribers.

The EPFO found this out because many UANs, allotted by the employers, were not being updated with the date of exit. Obviously, many EPFO members were creating new UANs when they changed jobs. Another reason for generation of multiple UANs is that, sometimes the declarations (for example: phone number or marital status) made to the old employer do not match those provided to the new employer. And, if such an employee does not know her old UAN number, a new one will be created.

Not only the newer form is simpler to fill, it is also available as an e-form on the EPFO’s website www.epfndia.gov.in. In addition to just transferring the account, employeed can use the new form for transfer of accumulated funds from the old accounts to the new one associated with the new employer.

For transfering the funds from one organization to another, an employee need to submit a separate Form No. 13. This method was complex and transfer of funds usually took a long time. Because of that many employees preferred withdrawal their funds rather than transferring them to new account. The step to simplify the transfer process will help in bringing down the premature withdrawals too.

However, only those members who have been allotted UAN, and whose KYC details have been digitally verified by the previous employer, are exempt from filling the Form No. 13 separately.