EPFO lifts EPF interest rate from four-decade low; here's your guide to withdrawal rules

EPFO interest rate hike: Retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) just gave the interest rate for the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme a lift, raising it by a notch above a four-decade low. After the latest revision, the EPF interest rate stands at 8.15 per cent for the year 2022-23.

Also known as the provident fund (PF), the EPF is a mandatory savings-cum-retirement scheme meant for employees. The money invested in the scheme can be used after retirement or employees can fall back on the corpus of this fund in case of prolonged unemployment.

Employees can withdraw the entire EPF amount in two cases

• When they retire
• When they are unemployed for months. In case an employee is unemployed for a month, he/ she can withdraw 75 per cent of the total accumulated amount and if the unemployment period extends beyond 2 months, he/ she can withdraw the rest 25 per cent.

Also Read: Income Tax: How will AI, Machine learning, and data analytics simplify tax process in India? 

Here's a lowdown on when EPFO allows subscribers to make a partial withdrawal from their corpus before attaining retirement:

EPFO withdrawal online process form 

Step 1: Visit the Universal Account Number (UAN) portal (https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/)

Step 2: Log in with UAN and password. Enter the captcha and click on the ‘Sign In’ button.

Step 3: Click on the ‘Manage’ tab and select ‘KYC’ to check whether the KYC details such as Aadhaar, PAN and bank details are verified.

Step 4: Once the KYC details are verified, go to the ‘Online Services’ tab and select the option ‘Claim (Form-31, 19 10C and 10D)’ from the drop-down menu.

Step 5: Fill in the required details and click on ‘Verify’.

Step 6: Click on ‘Yes’ to sign the certificate of the undertaking and then proceed.

Step 7: Now, click on ‘Proceed for Online Claim’.

Step 8: In the claim form, select the claim required, i.e. full EPF settlement, EPF part withdrawal (loan/advance) or pension withdrawal, under the tab ‘I Want To Apply For’. If the member is not eligible for any of the services like PF withdrawal or pension withdrawal due to the service criteria, that option will not be shown in the drop-down menu.

Step 9: Then, select ‘PF Advance (Form 31)’ to withdraw the fund. Further, provide the purpose of such advance, the amount required and the employee’s address.

Step 10: Click on the certificate and submit the application.

Step 11: Submit scanned documents for the purpose they have filled the form.

Step 12:Employer should approve the withdrawal request, and then the employee will receive money in their bank account in 15-20 days.

Also Read: Taxpayers Alert: These 10 income tax changes will be applicable from April 1 

OFFLINE APPLICATION

-Download the new Composite Claim Form (Aadhaar) or the Composite Claim Form (non-Aadhaar).

-Employees who have activated UAN and have seeded Aadhaar and bank details on the UAN portal should fill and submit using the Composite Claim Form (Aadhaar) form to the respective jurisdictional EPFO office without the attestation of the employer.

-If the employee has not seeded the Aadhaar and bank details on the UAN portal should fill and submit Composite Claim Form (Non-Aadhaar) form with the employer’s attestation to the respective jurisdictional EPFO office.

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