Know Details About The Universal Account Number

Every Employee Provident Fund (EPF) member is given a 12-digit number called a Universal Account Number (UAN) to help manage their EPF accounts effectively. A worker's UAN links all of his or her PF (Provident Fund) accounts across businesses and roles independent of employers. It unites all the PF accounts that an employee has been given each time he or she has joined a new organisation, and it was issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in accordance with instructions from the Government of India. This makes it possible for an employer to authenticate an employee using the UAN after the required paperwork has been examined.

Complications brought on by erroneous PF withdrawals and transfers are frequently caused by having multiple PF accounts. In order to address these problems and streamline the management of provident fund accounts, the UAN provision was introduced. All of an employee's PF accounts should be linked through UAN to allow easy withdrawals and transfers.

Features of Universal Account Number (UAN)
 

UAN intends to keep track of all of an employee's PF accounts in one place and stop the EFPO from relying on organisations to verify its personnel. The EPFO has access to each employee's personal information, including KYC information and bank account information, thanks to the UAN facility during the verification process. As a result, upon the filing of his or her UAN, an employee who changes jobs can link their new PF account to all of their prior PF accounts. Additionally, it eliminates the need for a PF account withdrawal prior to a job change.

Here are the salient features of the UAN:
 

Every employee with an Employee Provident Fund (EPF) account is given a special 12-digit number to handle their EPF accounts efficiently.

It accomplishes the task of consolidating all of his or her PF (Provident Fund) accounts across businesses and roles, regardless of employers.

In order for an employer to validate an employee's EPF account through the UAN after the appropriate documents have been verified, the employee is given a new PF account number each time they start working for a new company.

The centralisation of an employee's PF accounts not only eliminates the possibility of incorrect withdrawals and transfers, but also streamlines and simplifies the procedure.

It guarantees the legitimacy of each PF account a worker maintains.

After completing the online registration process through the EPF Member Portal, the employer's contribution to an employee's PF account can be monitored each month through the UAN.

Benefits of UAN for Employees
 

The term "Provident Fund" refers to an employee's monthly automatic deduction from salary and deposit into his or her PF account. Every month, the same sum of money is also added to the accounts of employees who work for private companies. An employee is given a new PF account when they start working for a new firm. It is possible to withdraw or transfer the money that has been collected in his or her previous PF account to the new PF account. The employee is eligible for a lump sum payment upon retirement, acting as monthly personal savings.

Employees who change jobs have the option of either withdrawing or transferring their EPF corpus funds, which is a laborious and time-consuming process. Employees would frequently choose to register a different PF account as a result at their new places of employment, indicating they would have had to handle multiple PF accounts. UAN was introduced to overcome these issues, which simplified the procedures.

In addition to this, the main advantages of UAN include:
 

Employee Pension Scheme: PF registration can be divided into two groups: the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), which has been in effect since 1995 and entitles employees to pension benefits as well.

Personal financial objectives: Employees can achieve financial goals including paying for children's higher education, their own education, their siblings' education, or their marriage thanks to the flexibility of withdrawing 50% of the EPF.

EPF for unforeseen emergencies: Employees have the option of taking money out of their EPF corpus to cover unexpected expenses or special occasions. There is, however, a specified limit that must be met, in addition to other restrictions.

Medical Emergency: Employees may also withdraw money from their EPF corpus to pay for critical diseases, such as chemotherapy and surgery, as well as unforeseen medical situations.

Insurance Benefits: Employee Deposit Linked Insurance, or EDLI, the programme extends insurance benefits to employees of businesses that do not provide group insurance.

Advantages of UAN to employees
 

Employees who have linked their PF accounts with UAN can benefit from the following:

Employer cannot take money out of the PF account or refuse to repay it
 

Your PF withdrawal application was previously sent to your former employer for signature before being submitted to the EPFO. In contrast, the reliance on the employer for PF account withdrawals has decreased after the introduction of UAN. The accrued funds are automatically transferred from the old PF account to the new one once the KYC verification is complete.

An effortless and simple way to transfer money
 

The physical transfer of money from the old PF account to the new one was a laborious and time-consuming process until the idea of UAN was established. The digital transmission took significantly longer. However, with UAN, all an employer needs to do for a successful transfer of PF funds is provide the new employer with the UAN and KYC information. The PF will be moved from the old to the new PF account after the new employer has confirmed these facts.

Benefits that are added to the Employee Pension Scheme
 

Before the launch of UAN, employees prefer to withdraw money after changing jobs and then transfer it to their new PF account because the manual process of doing so took more time. This would have had an undesirable effect on the lump sum pension that he or she would get after retirement because it meant that funds in the Employee Pension Scheme would also have to be withdrawn. Both the EPF and EPS accounts are immediately transferred after the start of UAN, providing the possibility of a larger lump sum payment upon retirement.

Mobile notifications for transactions that are streamlined
 

When you register for UAN on the EPF website, you can take advantage of receiving SMS notifications for any action in your PF account, including withdrawals and monthly employer transfers. This makes it possible for you to closely monitor each debit and credit to your bank's savings account. By inputting your UAN number and downloading the PF passbook from the EPF website, you can also check the balance of your account.

What can I do with UAN Number?
 

You may perform a lot of things with the help of your UAN number that will help you manage your PF account more effectively. The following are a few of these:

• The UAN number stays the same during the course of your career. If you decide to change employment, all you need to do is give it to your new employer to link your old PF accounts with UAN.

• By inputting your UAN number on the EPFO website, you can download the UAN card.
   
• Scan copies of the employee's KYC documents can be uploaded online and validated by the employer.
   
• Additionally, using your UAN makes it simple to examine the transfer claims on the EPFO website.
   
• By accessing their UAN number and downloading the online EPF passbook, all PF account holders can instantly check their amount.
   
• Using the UAN, you can upload each of your prior PF member IDs.
   
• With the help of UAN, moving money from one PF account to another has never been easier. The PF amount will be automatically sent to the new employer after the KYC verification has been completed.
   
• People are encouraged to retain their PF accounts and refrain from withdrawing money thanks to the simple process of moving PF accounts. This corresponds to the account holder being qualified to get a greater pension when they retire and need money.

Conclusion: The Employees' Provident Fund Organization gave him that number (EPFO). This number is given to both the employer and the employee (one each), enabling them to make contributions to the EPF account. Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is identified and kept secure by its UAN number. Therefore, even if multiple PF accounts are opened for you by various employers, they will all be associated with a single UAN number.