New Delhi: The union government had recently permitted salaried employees to withdraw PF contribution up to a certain amount so that they could manage their financial crunch amid COVID-19 crisis.
According to the permission, a salaried employee can withdraw either 75 per cent of the PF balance or three months of basic wages plus dearness allowance, whichever is lower. Interestingly, no deadline has been set to withdraw the PF amount to meet the COVID-19 financial concerns and as per EPFO. The employees can withdraw their PF amount till the pandemic prevails.
The employee has to log-on to the Unified Portal of the EPFO to begin the PF withdrawal process. He then can place the request for the non-refundable advance by using his Universal Account Number (UAN) and password. Besides, he can use the UMANG app to place the PF withdrawal request.
The UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) app is basically a platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen-centric services including provident fund services.
The UMANG APP can be downloaded by giving a missed call 9718397183, from UMANG website or from the play store or app stores.
Here is how you can withdraw PF using UMANG app
- Open UMANG App
- Select EPFO
- Select “Request for Advance (COVID-19)”
- Enter your UAN details and click on ‘Get OTP’ to get a password. Then use the OTP to login in your account.
- After logging in you will have to enter the last four digits of your bank account and select the member ID from the drop-down menu.
- Click on “Proceed for claim” & then enter your address following which you have to Click on ‘Next’.
- Upload the cheque image with your account number and name printed on it. Once all the details are entered, your claim will be successfully filed.
Those who have more than two UAN:
Every employee who has more than two UAN should transfer all the previous PF numbers to the current PF account linked to the current UAN which will help them to avail a higher amount of PF advance. However, in order to do so they have to initially file the transfer claim and then avail PF advance for COVID-19.
And, if you are not able to file the claim as details are not matching, you will have to log-on to the Unified Portal for members and rectify them before filing the claim. Even if one has lost a job in the current COVID crisis, the PF advance against COVID-19 can be availed by the individual member.
Maximum withdrawal limit
No matter how much is your PF balance, the maximum limit for EPF advance is capped. For example, if person A has a monthly wage of Rs 20000, the entitled advance amount is Rs 60000. If person A has monthly wages of Rs 30000, the amount of advance will be restricted to Rs 75000. So, even if both A and B have Rs 1 lakh each as PF balance, the maximum limit will be different for them.
(With inputs from financialexpress.com)
Ms Kalinga