Changes In Provident Fund Accounts: EPF Issues New Guidelines For Employee Detail Updates

EPF Issues New Guidelines: The new standard operating procedure guidelines, outlined in a circular issued on July 31, 2024, aim to streamline the process of updating personal details

EPF Issues New Guidelines: The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has announced updated rules for correcting and updating employee details in their Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) accounts. The new standard operating procedure (SOP) guidelines, outlined in a circular issued on July 31, 2024, aim to streamline the process of updating personal details.

According to the circular, "In suppression of earlier SOP, the Competent Authority has approved the SOP version 3.0 for joint declaration for member profile updation. In all cases of joint declaration requests, the Field Offices should do a stronger due diligence so that cases of impersonation/identity theft or otherwise do not occur."

The new guidelines delineate the procedure for the receipt of Joint Declarations for updating, inserting, or correcting details in Universal Account Number (UAN) profiles by members and employers. The document also details the method of corrections to be followed by the Field Offices.

The circular highlights that as the automated system matures, various anomalies in member profiles have led to rejections, failures, and frauds. Consequently, genuine members face lengthy processes for corrections, and claim settlements encounter difficulties due to data mismatches in parameters such as Name, Gender, Date of Birth, Father’s Name, Mother’s Name, Spouse's Name, Marital Status, Date of Joining, Reason for Leaving, Date of Leaving, Nationality, and Aadhaar Number.

The EPFO circular categorises profile changes into Major and Minor categories. All correction requests must be supported by documentary proof. For minor changes, at least two documents are required, while for major changes, a minimum of three documents must be provided. Changes related to Aadhaar require either an Aadhaar card or an E-Aadhaar card linked with an active mobile number as a supporting document.

Specific guidelines for documentary proof are detailed in Annexure-I of the circular:

For Minor Changes, at least two documents from the list in Annexure-I are required.

For Major Changes, at least three documents from the list in Annexure-I are necessary, except for changes related to Aadhaar, where the Aadhaar Card or E-Aadhaar Card linked with an active mobile phone suffices.

These updated guidelines aim to ensure accurate and efficient updating of employee details, reducing the risk of identity theft and fraud while facilitating smoother claim settlements.