Employee Provident Fund (EPFO), the nodal body of the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), allows subscribers to consult their balance online. Commonly referred to as a passbook, the document lists subscriber and company contribution entries for each month, as well as pension outflows. The passbook also contains the interest that has been credited to the beneficiary’s account.
Here is the detail of the different heads of the EPF booklet:
Establishment ID and company name (Employer)
The booklet mentions the institution identifier, which is a 7-digit number (the first two digits are usually zeros) assigned to each organization covered by the EPF 1952 scheme. It also mentions the name of the company in which the employee is currently working.
Member ID and Member Name (Employee)
The booklet then mentions the name of the employee as well as his membership card. The Member ID is the number given by EPFO to allow the employer to pay the EPF and EPS contributions for the employee.
It should be noted that if the subscriber has multiple EPF accounts, they will have separate passbooks for each account, which can be accessed using the specific member ID after logging into the account.
Share of employee and employer in the contribution
The PF statement/booklet shows the breakdown of employee and employer monthly contributions in rupees. The part that goes to EPS is also listed separately.
Subscribers should note that the contributions mentioned here are not the same despite the fact that employees and employers contribute equally at 12%. Indeed, the entire employer’s share is not transferred to the EPF kitty. Part of the employer’s contribution is diverted to EPS.
Interest earned
Interest generated by employee and employer contributions is credited once a year to the PF account. Interest earned is calculated on monthly account balances. The PF statement carries the interest rate on which the calculations are based on as declared by the government.
EPFO had declared 8.5% for the 2019-20 financial year. This is the lowest interest rate in seven years. In 2018-2019, the interest was set at 8.65%, while in 2017-2018 it was 8.55%.
Withdrawals
All withdrawals made by the subscriber are also displayed and counted accordingly.
The EPFO allows the subscriber to make a partial withdrawal or an “advance” on the PF corpus under certain conditions. A different percentage is allowed for each situation.
How to consult the EPF balance?
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to check the EPF balance via the EPFO website:
Step 1: Visit EPFO official website – epfindia.gov.in and login
2nd step: Go to the “Our Services” tab and choose the option that says “for employees”
Step 3: Click on the ‘Member Passbook’ option under the ‘Services’ option
Step 4: The EPF passbook page — passbook.epfindia.gov.in — will appear. Enter username (also known as UAN) and password
Step 5: Once logged in, the relevant job details can be selected. For example, someone who has worked in four different organizations would have four different Member IDs to choose from. After selecting a member ID, the EPF booklet can be viewed. The passbook indicates the current balance of the EPF account
The Employee Provident Fund or EPF acts as a savings tool for employees. In EPF accounts, employees contribute 12% of their salary and an equal amount is contributed by employers.
(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
First post: STI
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