The Employee Provident Fund is a social security scheme for individuals working in private companies. Through this scheme, employees save up funds for their retirement or when they avail it when they leave the organisation. EPF is also said to be a backup plan which is used at an hour of need. Under the retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, the EPF is made mandatory for private employees where they are required to invest 12% of their salary under this scheme. Notably, the current rate of interest on the EPF is 8.65%. 

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When it comes to claiming the EPF amount, one can withdraw the entire amount or apply for partial withdrawal. The withdrawal process can be on the account of marriage, education, purchase of property, home loan repayment, renovation or pre-retirement. If you are planning to withdraw partial amount, here are the details of who is eligible to get the partial amount:

Marriage: An EPFO member can withdraw up to 50% of the PF amount from the EPF account, but the condition is that the marriage should be of his/her, the marriage of his or her daughter, son, sister or brother. However, the EPF contribution by the member should have extended 7 years.

Education: EPFO members can withdraw money for the post-matriculation education of his or her son or daughter under certain conditions. The EPF contribution by the member should have extended 7 years.  

Purchase or construction of a house: EPFO members can withdraw money for construction of house or purchase for a site of the house, but the EPF contribution by the member should have completed 5 years.    

Home Renovation: The member can withdraw partially from PF when he or she wants to repair or alter the residence. It can be availed two times:
a) Five years from completion of house
b) Ten years from availing the above

Medical purposes: PF money can be partially drawn for medical purposes. It is applicable for medical treatments of self, spouse, children, and parents. There is no lock-in period or minimum service period for this type of withdrawal.

Repayment of home loans: The EPF subscriber is allowed to withdraw from the corpus for repayment of outstanding principal and interest towards a home loan under certain conditions. However, to withdraw the amount, at least 10 years of service completion is required

Retirement: A person can withdraw his or her entire provident fund corpus after completing 58 years of age. The employee is allowed to withdraw up to 90% of the provident fund balance

The process to withdraw Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF)

The process of withdrawing Employees’ Provident Fund has been made quick and easy. It can be done in two ways:

Physical application for withdrawal:
Single Page Composite Claim Form has been introduced by EPFO to replace multiple claim form like Form 19, Form 10C, Form 31 etc. These claim forms are accepted and processed on self-attestation basis without the need for attestation by the employer. In the case of partial withdrawal from the EPF account, one need not furnish various certificates. They can claim the EPF amount with a self-certification attested to the form. through this form that the applicant can make an official claim over the amount in the EPF account. This process is mandatory for making both full as well as partial withdrawal claims.

Steps to get your EPF online:
1. Visit the UAN website
2. Login to the portal with your unique username and password.
3. Click on Manage.
4. Select KYC and cross-check whether the KYC details like Aadhaar, PAN and bank details along with the IFSC code. are correct and verified. 
5. Post this, go to the tab Online Services.
6. Click on Claim from the drop-down menu.
7. The Claim screen will display the member details as well as KYC details.
8. On the form, select the claim you wish to make i.e. full EPF settlement or partial withdrawal or pension withdrawal. 
9. Click on Proceed for Online Claim. This way you submit your claim