The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has made changes in many rules so that employees do not have to face any kind of problems.
At the same time, EPFO has also provided the facility of auto-mode settlement for advance claims for medical, education, marriage and housing purposes. PF account holders with more than 6 crores can take advantage of this facility. This is a facility that provides funds to people in emergency.
Earlier it used to take 15 to 20 days to claim this facility of EPFO, but now this work is done within 3 to 4 days. This much time was also taken because the details like eligibility of the member, documents, KYC status of EPF account, bank account etc. were checked. But now in the automated system, scrutiny and approval is sent to them, so that the claim is done easily.
Who can claim?
The auto mode for claim settlement of this fund in an emergency was started in April 2020 itself, but, then money could be withdrawn only in times of illness. Now its scope has been expanded. You can also withdraw money from EPF for illness, education, marriage and buying a house. At the same time, if there is a marriage of a sister or brother in the family, then also advance money can be withdrawn.
How much money can be withdrawn?
Now you can withdraw up to Rs 1 lakh from EPF account, whereas earlier this limit was Rs 50 thousand. Advance fund can be withdrawn through auto settlement mode on computer. No approval is required for this and the money will be sent to your account within three days. For this, KYC, eligibility of claim request, bank account details are required.
Complete process of withdrawing money
- First of all log in to the EPFO portal using UAN and password.
- Now you have to go to online services and select the ‘Claim’ section. Verify the bank account, click on Proceed for Online Claim.
- When the new page opens, you will have to select PF Advance Form 31. Now you will have to select the PF account.
- Now you have to fill in the reason for withdrawing money, how much money to withdraw and the address. After this, you have to upload the scanned copy of the cheque or passbook.
- After this you will have to give consent and verify it with Aadhaar. After the claim is processed, it will go to the employer for approval.
- You can check the claim status under online service.
