Universal Account Number or UAN is a unique number that is allotted to the EPFO members who contribute towards their EPF accounts. As per the rules of EPFO, every PF member should have only one UAN. It will be against EPFO rules if the employee has more than one UAN due to frequently changing the job. Therefore, an employee having two UANs can get their EPF account transferred from one to another and get their previous UAN deactivated.
Reasons for allotment of two UANs
There are mainly two reasons for the allocation of the two UANs-
Non-disclosure of previous allotted UAN: When an employee switches his/her job, they need to disclose their previous UAN and EPF account number i.e. Member ID. If you do not provide the details, the new employer will open the new UAN and EPF account.
Not furnishing the date of exit by the previous employer: Your previous employer needs to mention the date of exit in the Electronic Challan and Return (ECR). If this information is not provided, the new establishment will allot a new UAN to the employee.
How to deactivate or merge two UANs?
If you have two UAN, then you must apply to deactivate one UAN. Here are the two methods that you need to deactivate a UAN.
Method 1:
- Report the issue to the EPFO: You can report the issue to the EPFO by sending an e-mail at [email protected]. Mention the previous and your current UAN in the mail along with the Member ID.
- Verification process: After receiving the mail, the EPFO will conduct the verification.
- Activation of new UAN: Once the verification is done, they will block your previous UAN, and the new one will be kept active.
- Submitting the claim: The employee needs to submit a claim so that the EPF amount can be transferred to the new account.
The above-mentioned process is a bit time taking. Thus, EPFO has come up with a new procedure in which it will be easier for a member to merge his/her multiple UANs and transfer the PF amount easily. Below, we have discussed the new method in the detail-
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Method 2:
- Apply for transferring EPF: Firstly, the employee needs to apply for the transfer of old EPF to the new one.
- Deactivation of previous UAN: After the identification of accounts, old UAN from which the EPF transfer has been processed will be deactivated by EPFO.
- Intimation by SMS: The employee will receive an SMS for the deactivation status.
- Activation of new UAN: If your new UAN is not yet activated, then the employee will be requested to activate it to get the updated status of the account.
The Process to transfer EPF online
Step 1: Firstly, visit the EPO Portal by clicking here.
Step 2: Enter the details such as your UAN, Password, and Captcha.
Step 5: Then, click on ‘Get details’ to see your PF details and verify them. After verification, click on the option ‘Get OTP’.
Step 6: Enter the OTP sent on your registered mobile number and click on ‘Submit’.
Step 7: After this, you need to fill Form 13 here. In this form, you need to enter your PF details from both the previous and current employers.
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Step 8: Filling up of this form will generate a Tracking ID that can be used to track the progress of the transfer.
Step 9: Take a print-out of this form, sign it, and send it across to your employer within 10 days.
Step 10: Both your employers will verify the details that you have entered. After doing the verification, they will approve it if the provided information is correct, leading to the successful transfer of your EPF online.
