EPF withdrawal delay issues and problems

EPF withdrawal delay issues and problems

Sometimes people forgot his/her epf account while quitting the job. In one case a delhiite Nidhi Jain left her job in 1999 and get married and settle in US. She returned India after ten years in 2010 and settled in India. Now she needs money as didn't do the job for the last ten years. She decided to start working. Suddenly she remembered about the provident fund amount for the last 10 years of working in India.

Now how to withdraw the money from provident fund account? She consults some people and one of them tells her that it can take entire life to withdraw amount from provident fund.

She doesn’t know her provident fund account number. So she consults with the last employer. But after 10 years it becomes difficult to give an account number. She consults with EPFO office in which she gets the massage as without account number. We can’t help you in anyway.

It took two months before she could fill the withdrawal form with her former employer.

“By the time the employer processed the form and submitted it to the EPFO, it was February 2011. In November 2011, EPFO misplaced my application/ records. I had to go through the entire process again. Since January 2012, my file is stuck with them,” she says.

Typically, it should take 30- 60 days to get the claim processed but many quote a longer timeline. This does not mean everyone has a hard time.

“One can face endless problems when applying for unclaimed EPF. Hence, it is common advice to hire consultants for this job.” So, what are the things you need to do here?

Documents required

While making an application to withdraw the EPF amount, you also need to give a copy of accepted resignation from the last employer. It all depends on the official’s mood as some may ask for or some not. Even in some cases, officials may ask for a separate letter from the employer stating almost the same things as in experience proof.

Exempted provident fund

EPFO has its own set of rules and the officials work in their way. It makes very difficult to withdraw unclaimed amount from EPF. There is also no alternate left to bear their way to work and it is very very lengthy process.

Address

If last employer change the city and not in the same city, it will create a problem too. Your application will go to that city for processing and follow up the application in other city EPFO office is also a complex issue.

Time

Time may be an issue as employer may not cooperate when you left job many years ago. Also if you did job for a short time, it becomes hard to get the cooperation with the last employer.

Applications

You may have to file many applications to get the amount of the EPF. This is mainly because their own set of rules. EPFO department holds six month or a year amount with interest and contribution. So it’s advisable to withdraw the amount one year later after retirement or quitting the job or else one need to file multiple 

applications.

Relationship matters

Relationship with the employer also matters as some cases quitting job arises because of some disputes or bad relations. Employer may not cooperate and in this case it takes 2 years or more to get the money from EPF account. One needs to serve notice to the employer for releasing the money.

PF Commissioner

PF commissioner can help you in many ways but it’s hard to interact with him. In Nidhi case, she only can catch him once and he has no time to get explain the issue and resolve it.

So it’s advisable to transfer your EPF amount in a case of changing the job for not need to claim from multiple employers. And it may take 5-6 years.

You can claim for the EPF amount after 60 days of your resignation but you must not employ in that 60 days period.  Procedure is as under.

1- Apply for claim on Form19 for EPFand Form 10C for employee pension scheme; forms are available on EPFO site

2- Be careful while filling bank details as EPF is submitted in your bank account

3- Send forms with a cancelled blank cheque & copy of your resignation/ relieving letter

4- To be safe, remember your employee code.

5- Send forms to previous employer, who will process it and send it to EPFO

6- Companies with PF trusts may ask you to apply to the EPFO directly

7- From 15 August 2013, EPFO is starting online transfer of epf account, click here for more.
8- EPF withdrawl and conditions from here.