Changing Jobs? EPFO Now Allows Automatic PF Transfers

Changing jobs will now involve one less step for Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) members. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced automatic transfer of provident fund balances for employees whose Universal Account Number (UAN) is linked with Aadhaar.

The change follows the migration of EPFO's member database to the Centralised IT Enabled Services (CITES) platform. Under the new system, PF balances will move automatically to the new account when an employee joins another organisation, removing the need to submit a separate transfer request.

Earlier, employees had to apply for PF transfer through the EPFO portal or through the offline process after changing jobs. The request then went through verification and processing before the balance and service history were transferred to the new account.

With the latest change, that additional process is no longer required for eligible members whose UAN is linked with Aadhaar.

Significance Of Such Changes

A UAN is meant to remain the same throughout an employee's working life, even after changing employers. Every new PF account opened by a new employer is linked to the same UAN.

Even though the UAN remained unchanged, members earlier had to submit a separate request to transfer the PF balance from the previous account to the new one. The automatic transfer facility removes this step, making the process simpler.

The move is expected to help employees who have multiple PF accounts because of job changes. Bringing all balances together under one UAN can help maintain a continuous record, thus making it easier to keep track of retirement savings.

A consolidated service history may also make it easier to process eligible advances and final settlement claims. Members can check their employment history by logging in to the EPFO Unified Member Portal with their UAN credentials and accessing the Service History section after OTP verification.

Other Changes Under The New Platform

The automatic transfer facility is one of several changes introduced after EPFO shifted to the CITES platform.

EPFO has also rolled out a centralised payment system, quicker processing of eligible claims and the option for members to access services from any EPFO office instead of being tied to the office where their account was originally maintained.