look news india
Often, while changing jobs, many employees lose their old EPF (Employee Provident Fund) account records or Member ID. Due to working in many different companies, multiple PF accounts are created for the same person, tracking which becomes a huge headache. But now there is big news of relief for crores of employed people of the country. Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has launched a very exciting scheme on its portal. Service History Feature has been introduced. With the help of this new digital tool, employees can easily see the complete records of all past and present employment related to their UAN (UAN – Universal Account Number) at one place.
Your entire job summary will open in one click.
The ‘Service History’ feature available on the new unified member portal of EPFO shows live details of the entire career of employees. In this you get the following important information together:
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In which company (employer) did you work from which date till which date?
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What was your unique Member ID while working in that company? For how many months or years during which your EPF contributions were deposited?
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This feature is no less than a boon for those employees who have changed companies several times in their career and were not able to transfer their old PF balance to the new account due to lack of time or lack of information.
Transferring old inactive PF funds becomes very easy
Usually, as soon as the employees join a new company, a new PF account is opened, but the money from the old account remains stuck in the previous account. After years have passed, many employees do not even remember how many of their PF accounts are active or inactive.
This new service history feature of EPFO flashes all the old member IDs mapped to your UAN on the screen. After this, employees can easily identify their old accounts in which their money is stuck, and can file a claim online to transfer it to their existing current account (PF Transfer Online).
‘E-PRAAPTI’ platform will also help you a lot
If any of your old PF accounts is not linked to your existing UAN number, EPFO has created a new one for that also. E-PRAAPTI Platform has been launched. Through this digital platform, members can easily trace their old unlinked EPF accounts with the help of their PAN, Member ID or other available financial documents. After this, the process of linking that account with the existing UAN has also been made simpler and completely paperless than before. This will help in reaching the thousands of crores of rupees lying unclaimed in the country’s PF accounts for years to their rightful owners.
Freedom from visiting offices; digital services at home
EPFO has been rapidly upgrading its services at the technical level for some time. Online Claim Settlement, Automatic PF Transfer, easy KYC update in a few minutes and now the option of ‘Service History’ on the unified portal, all these steps are part of this digital revolution. Its sole purpose is that no employee in the country has to visit the regional offices of EPFO for information or withdrawal of their own money.
Advice from tax and PF experts: All employed EPF members are advised to re-check their ‘Service History’ by logging into their UAN portal from time to time. This will ensure that there are no discrepancies in all your previous company data and EPF contribution records, so that you do not face any technical glitches in future at the time of retirement, advance PF withdrawal or final settlement.