It is a wonderful habit to save money. Everyone should save money for a number of reasons such as higher education for children, building a dream home, starting a business, the marriage of the children etc. Another excellent reason to save is for retirement. If you save and invest responsibly, you will be able to lead a comfortable life after you retire from service as you will be able to live off of the income from your investments.
One of the popular methods to save for retirements is to invest in an Employee Provident Fund. It is an investment avenue for which both the employee and the employer/ government contribute. You can lead a comfortable life with the money you receive from your provident fund. Since it is risk-free, unlike the stock market and also guarantees a certain amount of return it is a safe form of investment.
The benefits to a PF fund are many. In this article, we shall address what your UAN is, how to check the status of your UAN, how to get your e-passbook and how to check your Employee Provident Fund account balance. In the end, we shall also address some frequently asked questions and try to answer them.
Also Read: What is Time Value of Money? Concept, Definition and Examples
What is UAN?
Let us address this question first off. What is UAN? UAN is short for Universal Account Number.
- It is a 12 digit account number allocated by the Employee’s Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) to all the members registered with them. All the provident fund accounts as discussed above are maintained by the same organization and it is in regard to this that the 12 digit UAN is provided.
- It functions as an identification number for the members of the Employee Provident Fund Organization. The UAN is linked to the employee’s Employee Provident Fund account.
- The UAN may be used throughout the lifetime of an employee. It has lifetime portability. This means that irrespective of a job switch, there is absolutely no need to apply for an EPF transfer.
UAN STATUS
All the Employee Provident Fund facilities extended by the Employee’s Provident Fund Organization require an activated UAN. It is required for accessing all such facilities.
Once your UAN has been activated, you can avail yourself of facilities without even using your Employee Provident Fund number. For a person who has more than one EPF account number, the UAN feature comes in handy. You will be allowed access to all your EPF accounts with one permanent UAN.
Discussed below are some of the major advantages of having an activated UAN:
- You can check your EPF balance at any time.
- You can check the status of your EPF by using the missed call or SMS service.
- You will be able to view or download the passbook through the member portal.
- Check the status of your EPF withdrawal at any time.
- Apply for EPF withdrawal without the notice to your employer.
- You will be able to transfer your EPF online itself.
These are just some of the many benefits.
Also Read: Advantages of GST – GST Benefits Explained With Example
Since there are quite a few perks to an activated UAN it is very important to know the status of the UAN to be able to make use of all the benefits provided.
You may refer to the following steps to check the status of your UAN.
- Step 1: Go to the EPF portal. On the dashboard, you will see the option ‘Our Services’. Click on the same and then click on the option ‘For Employees’.
- Step 2: Go to the option ‘UAN Online Service (OCS/OTCP).
- Step 3: Find the link ‘Know your UAN Status and click on it.
- Step 4: Fill in the required fields such as your date of birth and your registered mobile number. You may either use your PF number, member ID, PAN your Aadhar card number for the primary field.
- Step 5: Click the option, ‘Get Authorization pin’.
- Step 6: You will receive an authentication pin to the mobile number you registered with. Validate the authentication pin by choosing “Validate OTP (one-time password) and get UAN”.
- Step 7: You will receive a message displaying your UAN number and the status of the same in the mobile number with which you have registered.
PASSBOOK
- EPF passbook is a document containing all the contributions made by the employees and employers/government in EPF and EPS accounts. Monthly contributions are made note of in the passbook. The passbook also contains the interest that is deposited in the employee’s account.
- It is important to mention here that if you have multiple accounts, you will be provided with separate passbooks for each account that can be viewed using the specific member ID after logging into the account.
- Members should be registered on the unified member portal to be able to access the passbook online. After six hours since the registration, members can view their EPF passbook online. Although, the passbook facility shall not be extended for establishments members, settled members and in-operative members who have been exempted.
We have discussed the step by step process you should follow to view your EPF passbook online, below;
- Step 1: Go to the web portal of EPF and click over the “Our Services” option which you will see on the dashboard. Then click on “For Employees”.
- Step 2: Find the option “ Member Passbook” and click over it.
- Step 3: The website will ask you for your username and your password. It will also require you to enter a Captcha for verification. Fill in those details to log in to your account and access your member passbook.
Employee Provident Fund Organisation services too are adapting digitally like the rest of the world. You can avail of the same services on mobile applications. You can download these apps from the UMANG website, Google Playstore or the App Store. UMANG stands for - Unified Mobile App for New Governance.
Registering for your UAN e-Passbook
- For your convenience and comfort, you can now access your passbook online. All you have to do is simply register for the UAN e-Passbook on the web portal. As discussed above, registering for e-Passbook online requires an activated UAN.
- Members can verify their UAN by visiting the government web portal of EPF. The e-Passbook shall be available for download after three business days from the day of activation of UAN.
- You will be able to see the option “Download e-Passbook'' in the member portal after logging into your account. Click on that option to download and access your e-Passbook.
Checking Your Account Balance
It goes without saying that it is very important to keep an eye on your account balance. Luckily, you don’t have to sweat it out or be confused when it comes to that. There are various simple methods to do so and we are going to discuss them all in this article.
Also Read: Add Bank Account in Khatabook App | Get Payments Faster
EPFO Portal
To check your account balance through the web portal of EPFO, you may follow the given steps;
- Go to the EPF portal and look for the option “Our Services” on the dashboard and click over it. Then click on the option “For employees”.
- Click over the option “Member Passbook”.
- The website will ask you for your user credentials. Fill them in and login to your account.
- Click the option ”view passbook”.
- Click on the option “Member Passbook”.
- The website will ask you for your username and password. It will then give you a captcha which you must re-enter.
- You can then access your account now.
SMS
- EPF account balance can be verified by receiving it in the form of an SMS.
- For this, first you will have to send a message to the phone number, 7738299899 from your registered mobile number.
- The format to send the message is, “EPFOHO UAN ENG”. Over here, the last three characters depict the language you prefer.
- The services are available in 10 languages including English and Hindi and other regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Marathi.
- If your message has been accepted successfully, you will receive a message from EPFO which will display your KYC document details, the last contribution deposited and the remaining balance in your EPF account.
On the flip side, there is a very slight chance that the SMS may not be received if your Aadhaar or PAN or bank account which were provided by the employer has not been digitally approved. If this occurs, it would be wise to contact your employer as soon as possible.
UMANG App
One other method to make sure of your account balance is to download and use the UMANG App which also has a similar connection with the EPFO account. Use the following easy steps to check your account balance via the UMANG App:
- Download the app from either Appstore or Google Play Store.
- On the screen, select the option of EPFO.
- Look for “Employee Centric Service” and click on it.
- Enter your UAN.
- You will receive a One Time Password (OTP) on your registered mobile number.
- Once you receive it, enter the number on the app.
- You will find the tab “ view passbook” under the option EPFO. Click on that to find out your account balance.
- Employee provident fund is one of the world's largest social security schemes. It aims at protecting the employees who have diligently been a part of the workforce for years and years. It imparts a sense of security to the employees. It requires no extra effort at all.
- At the end of their employment, employees often find that they have quite a huge amount in their names when no conscious effort was ever put forth by them.
- It is also fairly simple to invest in and understand. The right kind of research can go a long way in helping you to invest in this wonderful savings scheme.
- The Employee Provident Fund Organization has also adapted to the digital world and is striving hard to give everyone their rightful benefits in a simple and hassle free manner. It is therefore extremely important to understand the workings of your EPF account and UAN.
- It is also very important to keep a check on the monthly contributions, interest accrued and account balance with the help of the web portal and your passbook so that you always know what is going on with your account and that everything is functioning smoothly.
We hope that this article has helped you to gather an in-depth understanding of your UAN, passbook and e-passbook, your account balance and how to keep a check on its balance. Given below are a few frequently asked questions to clear any doubts you may have at this point of the article.
Also Read: How To Make TDS Payment Online
