EPFO Alert: For salaried people, the money of Provident Fund is their lifetime earnings. As long as you remain in the job, you contribute to the EPF, and when you retire, you have a substantial amount, so that you can spend your old age on the basis of this money.
EPF Account: For salaried people, the money of Provident Fund 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 substantial amount, so that you can spend your old age on the basis of this money. But many times it happens that due to lack of information or some mistakes, the PF account gets closed. Therefore, it is very important for you to know that you should not make any such mistake.
1. Account may be closed
If you have not transferred your PF account to the new company from the company in which you used to work earlier, and the old company got closed. In such a situation, if there was no transaction from your PF account for 36 months, that is, money was not put in it. So in this case your PF account will be closed. EPFO puts such accounts in the ‘Inoperative’ category.
2. How will it be active again?
Once the account becomes ‘inoperative’ then you will not be able to do the transaction, to make the account active again, you will have to go to EPFO and apply. Even after being ‘inoperative’, interest continues to accrue on the money lying in the account, which means that 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 started. You should know that interest accrues on your PF account till you attain the age of 58 years.
3. When is the account ‘Inoperative’
According to the new rules, the EPF account becomes ‘inoperative’ if the employee has not applied for withdrawal of EPF balance, when
A- even after 36 months of retirement when the member turns 55 years after that
B- when the member is permanent Settled in a foreign country
C- If the member has died
D- If the member has withdrawn all the retirement funds is put into the Fund.
What are the instructions regarding EPFO
The EPFO has said in one of its circulars that it is necessary to take care to settle the claims related to inactive accounts. Care should be taken that the risk related to fraud is minimized and the claim is paid to the right claimants.
Who will certify inactive PF accounts
To settle the claim related to inoperative PF accounts, it is necessary that the employer of the employee should certify that claim. However, if the employees whose company is closed and there is no one to certify the claim, then the bank will certify 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 account transfer from the accounts according to the amount.
With whose approval the money will be received
If the amount exceeds 50 thousand rupees, the money 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, the account officer will be able to approve the fund transfer or withdrawal. If the amount is less than 25 thousand rupees, then the dealing assistant will be able to approve it.
