Do you have more than two UAN numbers for EPF? Here’s how to merge them

A salaried employee should have only one Universal Account Number linked to his Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account for the entire period of employment, as per the existing rules. However, there are several cases coming to the notice of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisaiton (EPFO) where multiple UANs have been assigned to one employee.

This usually occurs when an employee switches his or her job and the new employer opens a fresh EPFO account. As every EPF account is linked with a UAN, there are high chances that a new UAN is allotted to the employee when he changes his organisation. 

There could be different reasons for allotment of new UAN to an employee. If an employee does not disclose his previous UAN and EPF account number (Member ID) at the time of switching his job, the new employer may open a new UAN and EPF account. Secondly, in some instances the previous employer fails to provide the last working day of the employee in the Electronic Challan and Return (ECR). So, if this information is not provided on time, the new organisation may allot a fresh UAN to the employee.

It is worth noting that having two active Universal Account Numbers at the same time is against the EPFO rules. So, if any member has two UANs, he or she must report the issue to the current employer in order to deactivate the old UAN. You can also consider writing to the EPFO to block the previous UAN and transfer the existing EPF balance to the active UAN.

How to merge or deactivate multiple UANs

Let us take a look at how you can deactivate or merge two UANs.

Method 1:

• If you have two UANs, you must report the issue to your new employer or EPFO.
• You can send an email to uanepf@epfindia.gov.in and mention your current and new UAN.
• A verification will be conducted by the EPFO to resolve the issue.
• Subsequently, the old UAN will be deactivated and your current UAN will be kept active.
• You must now submit a claim to transfer the EPF account, which is linked with the deactivated UAN, to the new active account.

This process is a bit tedious and the resolution rate is very low. EPFO has come up with an easier procedure in which it is convenient for a member to merge his two UANs and transfer his EPF without much hassle.

Method 2

• EPFO members must request for the transfer of EPF amount from the old UAN to the new one.
• After you have requested for transfer of EPF, the system automatically identifies the duplicate UAN.
• Once the identification is complete, the old UAN will be deactivated and the employee’s previous member ID gets linked to the new UAN. Besides, you will receive the deactivation status of the old UAN via SMS.
• In case the member employee has not activated his new UAN, the member will receive a request to activate the new UAN