UAN - Universal Account Number

What is UAN?

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. This number is issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. If an individual changes his job, he will get a new PF account with the organization. This way, multiple PF account numbers will be allotted to an employee. Multiple PF account numbers is an area of concern as many employees report grievances related to transfer and withdrawal of PF amount. To counter this problem and to make the management of provident fund accounts easier, the concept of UAN was introduced The UAN is a single account number that will connect the multiple IDs associated with an employer. With UAN, an employee can connect all his EPFO accounts to make the process of PF withdrawal and transfer more easy.

Features and Benefits of UAN

The main objection of UAN is to support the centralization of employee data and decreasing the dependency of Employee Provident Fund Organization on employers for the purpose of employee verification. At present, the identity of members is verified by the EPFO through the data obtained by employers. With the introduction of UAN, the bank account details of the member and KYC details are linked in a way that the employee’s identity is verified and established.

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 Withdrawals

  Currently, 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 Funds

  Transferring the PF amount from one employer account to other used 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 Management

  By registering on the EPF portal, employee’s 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 Scheme

  Many employees preferred to withdraw their PF amount from one account while switching jobs because 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 savings 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 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 an 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 an 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 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.

EPF Online Process

Here are some of the things that you must know about viewing your EPF account online using the UAN.

How do I get my UAN?

UAN was provided to every PF account member by EPFO after converting the existing PF account numbers of individuals who have contributed through electronic challan cum return in EPFO during the period of January 2014 to June 2014. The UAN details and allotted number was offered to the employers which they have to download and convey to the concerned employees of the organization. To check if an UAN is allotted to you, you can visit the EPFO web portal.

EPFO Mobile App

You will have to activate your UAN through the website or mobile app which was launched in mid 2015. The mobile app will also give you the flexibility to manage your PF accounts from handheld devices.

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 user name 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

How to transfer PF accounts online with UAN on EPFO Portal?

Every PF account holder, on job change, had to change their EPF account which was a very confusing and time consuming process. The whole process of PF transfer involved transferring money from old to new account and would take more than a month. The process also involved verification of the account holder by the employer through EPF system which gave the employer a considerable control over handling PF accounts of employees.

After the introduction of UAN, employees who have an allotted UAN can log on to the EPFO portal and transfer the PF accounts easily. In order to transfer the EPF account online, you must have the following.

• The employers must have registered the digital signature certificates of employees with EPFO since they will have to verify the transfer claim papers online by signing it off digitally.
• The present and previous PF account number, member IDs must be available in the EPFO database.

The process for filing PF account transfer online using UAN is as described below.

• Check your eligibility for filing a PF account transfer online - your present and previous employers’ data must be available in the EPFO database. Your employer must register for digital signatures of EPFO.
• To file a transfer of PF account, you must have been registered on the EPFO portal.
• Log on to OTCP website using same details as EPF member portal. You will be asked to select the document type and enter details like document number and mobile number.
• In the menu bar, select Request for claim under claims. Fill all necessary information in Part A - name, bank account number, email id and IFSC code of the bank.
• Fill the necessary details in Part B regarding the PF account held with previous employer. You have to enter details like the name and address of establishment, PF account held and after that, the member’s name will appear on the screen if available in the EPFO database.
• The details available in the EPFO database will be automatically filled up and you will not be able to edit the information. If the details are not available, you will have to enter it manually.
• EPFO will check your date of birth against the information in their database. If you have entered the wrong date of birth, you will be blocked after three unsuccessful attempts. You will then have to take the transfer process offline.
• In part C of the form, you will be required to fill in the details pertaining to your current employer. The information entered will be cross checked against the EPFO database records.
• Select the employer who will get your claim attested. You can select either the previous employer or the present employer.
• You can view the application by clicking on “Preview” and also change the data if you want to. You will have to click on the “Get PIN” and agree to the declaration statements. The PIN will be sent to your registered mobile number and you will have to enter it back.
• A printable transfer claim form will be downloaded. You can take a copy of the form 13 and present it to the employer to complete the claim submission.
• You will also be able to check the status of transfer through member portal account.

The Universal Account Number or UAN is a unique number assigned to an individual which keeps track of all his provident fund accounts. UAN links the accounts in a way that employees can view status of all their current and previous EPF transactions. Earlier, maintaining multiple accounts was a laborious task, since it involved a huge amount of complex procedures and paperwork. Now with the introduction of UAN, the entire process of EPF withdrawal and balance transfer has been simplified to a greater extent. EPFO, in its recent order has made it compulsory for employers to enroll all those employees for UAN, who are covered under the Employees Provident Funds Act.

The features of Universal Account Number

UAN is a twelve digit number assigned to every member who is contributing towards the Employee Provident Fund. It enables quick and convenient transfer of funds from one account to another. As per the new guidelines issued by EPFO, employees don’t need attestation from their employer for withdrawal of PF sum, provided they have a valid UAN ID. Given below are the salient features of Universal Account Number:

• Each employee will be issued only one UAN number
• Change of jobs does not affect the UAN status
• All EPF accounts will be linked to a single UAN
• Activation of the UAN depends on the KYC details furnished by the applicant
• UAN registration is done through the employing organization
• The linking of UAN can be done online through the EPFO portal

Key benefits associated with UAN

With government bringing more enhancements in UAN linked data services, more employees are getting aware of the EPF benefits. Now with the latest amendment of EPF act, even inoperative accounts will continue to accrue interests. Here’s a listing of some of the benefits of UAN:

• Hassle free transfer of PF balance while switching jobs
• Allows an employee to view PF status, download passbook and form, and file EPF claims
• Option to avail accumulated funds without employer attestation
• Provides loan facility
• Users can subscribe to SMS notifications

How to activate your UAN

Once your employer generates your UAN number the same has to be activated through the EPFO web portal. Follow the steps given below to activate your UAN:

• Visit the EPFO website and click on the “Activate your UAN” link
• It will navigate to the UAN activation page where you will be required to fill in your UAN number, mobile number, and Member ID
• On clicking the “Get Pin” option you will receive an activation PIN on the registered mobile number
• Feed the PIN number in the appropriate field and click submit
• Next generate your UAN login password and complete the process

Why is it necessary to link Aadhaar with UAN?

Aadhaar is considered to be one of the most reliable form of identity proofs as it contains the biometric as well as address details of the individual. In a move to provide value added services to EPF members, the labor ministry has made it compulsory to link Aadhaar cards with UAN. It quickens the employee verification process and prevents the duplication of member accounts. Employees can login into their UAN accounts and update the KYC details with Aadhaar card information.

FAQs

1. What Happens to UAN in case of Job Change?

   If UAN is already allotted to the employee and if the employee shifts to another organization, all he has to do is just provide the UAN on joining and the employer will mark the new member ID which can be linked to the already allotted UAN. The UAN will remain same throughout a person’s career.

2. What is an UAN card and what information does it contain?

   UAN card contains information about UAN number and other necessary information. The front side of the card displays photo and KYC (in case the KYC documents are verified by the employer). The backside of the card has the latest five member IDs along with contact details of EPF helpdesk.

3. How do I transfer the old PF accounts and connect it with my UAN?

   After your UAN is linked to the new EPF account, you will have to transfer the previous accounts. You can transfer your PF accounts online and also check the transfer status.

4. I have been allotted two UANs? How do I get a number validated?

   In some cases, you might be allotted two UANs because of confusions during UAN submission to previous and current employer. If that happens, you will have to contact the EPF helpdesk immediately and mention both your UANs and after due verification, previous UAN will be blocked and the current UAN will be activated.

5. What do I do if my date of birth has not been mentioned correctly in the EPF card?

   In case you wish to change your date of birth, father’s name or your name, you can apply with supporting documents through your organization. Also, you can contact the EPF helpdesk for more information regarding change of personal details in the UAN card.