Employees' Provident Fund Organisation subscribers can apply for auto-settlement of PF advance claims, requiring no human involvement. The claims are faster, hassle free and come to rescue of PF Subscribers in situations as illness, education, marriage and needing funds for housing purposes.
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The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had first introduced auto-settlement of advance claims during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide quick financial support to members. The facility has since been extended to cover advance claims for illness, education, marriage and housing purposes. These claims are processed automatically by the system without the need for human involvement which ensures quick turnaround.
According to the official website of EPFO, all claims made under the auto-settlement mode are settled within three days of submission.
According to a recent government release, the EPFO has increased the auto-settlement limit for advance claims from the existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakhs.
As per the EPFO, these are the different types of EPF advances that members can apply.
1. Members can withdraw a part of their provident fund in case of a medical emergency.
2. EPF members can claim an advance for their own marriage as well as that of their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
3. EPF account holders can withdraw up to 50 per cent of their total contribution to the EPF to cover the children's higher education or education costs after class 10.
4. EPF advance could be taken for buying or constructing a house, repaying the home loan, purchasing a site or plot, renovating the house or repairing the house.
5. The EPFO allows withdrawal of 90 percent of the EPF corpus one year before retirement.
Employees can apply for a part PF withdrawal using Form 31. Members are not required to provide any supporting documents when submitting an online PF part withdrawal form. The member’s online advance claim submission will be taken as their self-declaration for having applied for the same.
In April this year, the EPFO eliminated the need to upload an image of a cheque leaf or an attested bank passbook while filing online claims. To streamline the process of seeding bank accounts with UAN, the EPFO also removed the need for employer approval after bank verification.
Members can file withdrawal, advance, transfer and pension claim online through the EPFO Member Portal or through the Umang app.
Log in to the EPFO portal using UAN credentials. Go to 'online services' and select the 'claim' section. Verify the bank account number. Authenticate using the OTP received against the mobile number registered with UIDAI. This will complete the online claim submission.
With the Member e-SEWA portal, employees can track the status of the transfer claim. One has to go to the 'online services' tab and then to 'Track Claim Status’. When the claim is submitted, the status shown is 'Pending with the employer'. When the employer approves the transfer request, the status of the form changes to 'Accepted by the employer'.
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