Now EPF Account Will Be Transferred Automatically On Job Change

This move will ensure that employees no longer have to transfer the money in their provident funds when they change jobs

The EPFO has given green light for developing a centralised IT-enabled system by C-DAC that will enable merger of all EPF accounts of its members. Image: Getty

New Delhi: Merging Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) or transferring EP accounts will soon become a thing of the past.

In a huge relief to the working employees of the country, a labour ministry statement said that the EPFO has given green light for developing a centralised IT-enabled system by C-DAC that will enable merger of all EPF accounts of its members and do away with the requirement of getting a member’s account transferred due to job change. 

In other words, this is a big move for the EPF account holders as they won’t have to worry about getting their accounts transferred to their new organisations after changing jobs.

With the advent of the centralised system, the employees will get benefits. This system will facilitate the de-duplication and merger of all PF accounts of members, and thus will remove the requirement of transfer of EPF accounts whenever a member changes his/her job. The decision was taken at the 229 meeting of the Central Board of Trustees, which was held on November 20.

Currently, when a member changes his/her job, a new EPF account for that employee is opened with the new company. The person needs to transfer the money held in the EPF account with the previous company to his/her new employer. The transfer of PF amount can be done online too. A new passbook is also created with every new organisation for easy understanding of the account.

This process has to be done online on the Member Sewa portal of the EPFO if the employee’s Universal Account Number (UAN) is linked with Aadhaar. If a member’s UAN is not linked with Aadhaar, then the person can get the money transferred to the new EPF account by submitting a form to the new employer.

“Approval was accorded for development of centralised IT-enabled systems by C-DAC. Post this, the field functionalities will move on a central database in a phased manner enabling smoother operations and enhanced service delivery. The centralised system will facilitate de‐duplication and merger of all PF accounts of any member. It will remove the requirement of transfer of account on change of job,” a labour ministry statement said on November 20.

According to the statement, the EPFO has added around 15.41 lakh net subscribers during the month of September.