Recently, many renowned organisations in India have cut the employee expenses by cutting thousands of employees from their workforce. Those who are already laid off are in a financial distress situation in this stressed situation. In one side they are stressed to their families and friends and in the other side thinking of how they grab another job in this spooky job market. In this type of tough situation, people want to have easy money from their small savings. I have witnessed so many questions on Quora requesting answers ‘How can they withdraw their PF money’.
Also Read: Withdraw PF Amount Partially for These Nine Reasons
Though it is always advised that you should have contingency amount of at least three months expenses, most of younger generation continuously remained ignorant to the necessity. Unless we face the hard situation of the present we cannot think of the bitter future. So my request to all young earners to have contingency amount ready with them.
At the same time, even if I am going to explain the procedure how you can withdraw PF amount of yours or how to withdraw PF amount with UAN number, it is highly recommended not to touch the PF amount unless it is really necessary.
PF is meant to be the instrument to accumulate the retirement fund. It should be viewed as a long-term perspective, not as other investment which will help you before retirement during financial turmoil situation.
Before the arrival of NPS into the market, PF was seen as the only retirement fund. Our elder generation has solely dependent on EPF withdrawal after their retirement and it helped a lot. Another advantage of PF is that there is no tax implication of PF withdrawal after retirement.
Also Read: Best Pension Plans in India and What Should you Choose for Your Retirement
Recently the government has proposed to introduce some rules to resist the PF withdrawal before retirement. The new rule shall be that you cannot withdraw the employers’ contribution towards PF before you turn to 58 years age.
You can withdraw your PF in the following ways:
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New withdrawal form
Those who have linked their ADHAAR number with EPF account, their job has become very easy to withdraw the PF money. Only the filled up UAN based form 19 has to be submitted to EPFO. Seven information to put in the form such as Name, PAN no, Date of leaving service and Reason, canceled cheque etc. After the processing, the amount will be directly credited to Bank account.
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Old Withdrawal Form
This old form 19 is obviously complex than the new ADHAAR based form. If you have completed 10 years of membership and want to withdraw the pension amount, you have to fill up form 10C. This filled up form has to be submitted to HR department of your past employer. In most of the cases, the process is full of hurdles. As you have left the organization and hence they are not in a position to serve you quickly. They take their own time and ultimately you receive the money very late after so many follow ups.
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Online withdrawal
After much waiting, EPFO has introduced the system how you can withdraw the PF amount online. Members can apply for the following services.
a. PF Final Settlement (Form – 19)
b. Pension Withdrawal Benefit (Form – 10C)
c. PF partial withdrawal (Form-31)
The members are required to have the UAN number and Mobile number linked with the EPFO account. You have to update your AADHAAR number with the EPFO account for the online claim. If you don’t have UAN number till now collect it from your employer. You can also search your employee database or PF slip or salary slip for UAN number.
After getting the UAN no, you have to register your UAN no. on the EPFO portal. After successful registration, your mobile number will be linked with UAN no. With this UAN no. your future transactions with EPFO will be smooth.
You follow the steps for the online claim of PF amount.
- Log in to the UAN portal with the UAN number.
- Check the AADHAAR details have been updated or not? If not updated you cannot claim the money. It will ask to update AADHAAR.
- You have to select relevant withdrawal type as mentioned above.
- You need to verify the claim with the OTP received in your mobile. The mobile number has to be updated with UIDAI database.
- EPFO will verify the data from the database of UIDAI and based on that they will process the claim.
- In this regard, remember that there is no need to communicate with your past employer. So it is possible that you can withdraw PF without the signature of past employer.
Also Read: Five Smart Ways How to Check EPF Balance Online Easily
Benefits of having UAN Number:
The benefits of having UAN are as per following:
- Download your UAN card
- You can access of passbook online
- When you change your job PF transfer will be easy
- UAN number will be same throughout the carrier. You can even add new EPF account number to existing UAN when you change job.
- Easy access to changing the details regarding PF account.
- Check the status of PF transfer
So, those who are employed and having a PF account with their employer, followings are to be checked.
- Search for the UAN number in PF slip, salary slip etc. on the employee log in of your company
- If not found, ask the designated person/ HR of employer to facilitate you the UAN number.
- Activate the UAN number in the EPFO portal
- Link your ADHAAR number with PF number
Also Read: How to Withdraw EPS Online
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