Beginning next month, your Provident Fund account will automatically be transferred to you new job but you need Aadhaar for it

Key Highlights

• PF accounts will be automatically transferred in case of job switch.
• Aadhaar card and a verified PF account would be necessary for this procedure.
• Higher number of PF account closures has led to EPFO considering automatic transfer.

Soon you will be relieved of the hassle to transfer your Provident Fund (PF) account to your new office when you change jobs. 

Chief Provident fund commissioner VP Joy was quote by Times of India as saying that the PF will soon be automatically transferred to employees’ new firms on changing jobs. 

Current procedure includes filing application forms for transferring an individual’s PF account to the new place to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). 

However, for this process to be automatically completed, Joy added that employees must have an Aadhaar number. 

“We are trying to ensure transfer of money if one changes jobs, without any application, in three days. In future, if one has an Aadhaar ID and has verified the ID, then the account will be transferred without any application if the worker goes anywhere in the country. This system will be in place very soon,” he said.

EPFO has increased efforts to expand coverage and initial results have been positive in this endeavour wherein more than one crore workers were enrolled from January to June, the report said.

One of the reasons that Joy said pushed the EPFO to make PF accounts automatically transferable was the premature closing of accounts by employees. He further added that money should be withdrawn from the PF account only for ‘major’ purposes like housing, education of children or serious hospitalisation.