EPF UAN: Have two Universal Account Numbers against Provident Fund account? Here is how to correct this PF mistake

EPF UAN: The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has changed its rule for updating the EPF or Provident Fund (PF) account when an earning individual changes job. Nowadays, PF account can be updated on its own while in earlier cases, it was vested with the previous employers. Since the previous employer may be or may not be updating PF account after the employee has left the organisation, in such a case there are chances of getting two UANs (Universal Account Number) against one earning individual, especially if the previous EPF or PF account is an older one. According to the tax and investment experts, those having two UANs won't be allowed to get PF interest on the older PF account as it is deemed to be a dormant PF account. Therefore, a PF account holder would lose compounding benefits on older PF account due to the double UAN. Those, who are facing such problems, experts are of the opinion that they should merge both the PF account on their own by logging in at the EPFO official website epfindia.gov.in and continue availing of the various income tax and other investment benefits of their older Pf account.

Commenting on the double EPF UAN for same earning individual SEBI registered tax and investment expert Manikaran Singhal said, "Today, having two UAN is not possible because it's now attached with one's Aadhaar number. However, in case the PF account is more than 6-7 years old and the job hopper has worked in the same organisation for such a long period of period, then it may happen that one's PF account is not connected with his or her Aadhaar Card number." Singhal said that having two different UAN numbers will make it difficult for the PF account holder to see the details of one's account as the old fund gets dormant or frozen. 

Those who have two UANs can't even transfer their old PF balance to their new account. Hence, it is necessary that both UANs be merged. It is easy to merge both UAN numbers by sending an e-mail at EPFO office - uanepf@epfindia.gov.in. Here we have to match the old and new UAN number. After this, the EPFO will cross-examine both UAN numbers and after verification, the old number will be blocked from the EPFO's side. After this, you can apply for transferring your old PF deposits into your new PF account.

If one's PF account and UAN are inter-linked, then the PF account holder can use other options to merge by logging in at the EPFO official website. In this option, the EPFO subscriber has to log in at epfindia.gov.in — the official website of the EPFO. There they need to go to the 'Employee One EPF account' option and enter their registered mobile number, company ID, UAN number, etc. After this, enter the OTP received on your mobile number in the given column. Now select the option, 'click on a new page' to get all the details of your old EPF. After you select this option, all your old PF details will be filled in the given column automatically.

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Here is a step by step guide for successful correction of the double UAN error committed with your Provident Fund account:

1. Claim the transfer of the old PF account deposits to your new PF account, at epfindia.gov.in;
2. After the request for transfer, the EPFO will verify your transfer claim and you can start the process of both UAN linking;
3. After the transfer process, the EPFO will block your previous UAN, which can never be used after de-activation;
4. Once the EPFO has validated your new UAN, it will be linked to your PF account automatically; and
5. The EPFO will send an alert to the Employee via SMS, about deactivation of old UAN, while activation of the new one.

Singhal said that after switching jobs, employees should update PF account on their own in the changed EPFO rules, rather requesting the previous employer to update that.