The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Account allows salaried employees to create a retirement corpus when they are actively employed. Salaried employees contribute 12% of their basic salary including dearness allowance towards the EPF fund and their employers also contribute an equal amount. These contributions gradually build up a secured corpus with fixed returns which can be used when the employee retires.
Aadhar card, on the other hand, is a unique identification card which is issued by the Government of India to Indian citizens. This card helps in identifying the individual and it contains a 12-digit number which is unique for every individual holding the card. The Government has also introduced the concept of linking Aadhar cards to different financial accounts which individuals have including EPF accounts. Salaried individuals are advised to do EPF Aadhar link so that their EPO account can be matched to their unique Aadhaar numbers.
EPF Aadhar link can be done online, offline as well as through your Smartphone and you, as a salaried employee, can choose which mode of linking is more convenient to you. The steps for EPF Aadhar link online as well as through other modes are stated below for easy understanding –
You can do EPF Aadhar link online through your EPF account. The process is as follows –
You can also do EPF Aadhar link offline by filling and submitting an Aadhar linking form. The steps for offline linking are as follows –
In keeping with the popularity of mobile applications, the EPFO has developed a mobile application called UMANG which helps you avail different services related to your EPF Account. You can download the application on your smartphone through Google Play Store (for Android phones) or from the Apple App Store (for iPhones). Once you have downloaded the application, you can use it for different EPF services, linking Aadhar card is one of them. To do EPF Aadhar link through the UMANG application, the steps are as follows –
When you are linking your EPF account with Aadhaar card, the following things should be kept in mind –
It is not mandatory to link your EPF account with your Aadhar card number. However, when you do the EPF Aadhar link, you get many benefits. These benefits are as follows –
Given these benefits, it is beneficial to link your EPF account to your Aadhar card and centralize the storage of your financial records.
UAN stands for Universal Account Number. It is your EPF account number which is issued by the EPFO organisation. The UAN number identifies the individual employee whose contributions are being accumulated in the EPF account. Even though the employee ID of the individual changes due to a job changes the UAN remains the same. Thus, using the UAN an individual can continue contributing to the EPF account even if there is a job change.
Your UAN number can be found from your employer. Alternatively, you can find out your UAN number online on EPFO website. Go to the website and choose ‘Member UAN/Online Service’. Choose ‘Know your UAN status’ on the next page. Another page would open wherein you should enter in your member ID, Aadhar card number or PAN Card number. Then you have to enter in your name, date of birth, mobile number, email ID and the captcha code displayed therein. Click on ‘Get Authorization Pin’ which would be sent to your mobile number. Enter the PIN received and you would know your UAN number as well as its status, i.e. whether it has been linked to Aadhar or not.
If your name does not match, EPF Aadhar link would not be done successfully. You would, therefore, have to make changes in your Aadhar card or your EPF account. You can change your name in Aadhar card and then link the updated Aadhar card to your EPF account. Alternatively, if the name in the EPF account has to be changed, you and your employer should submit a joint request with the EPFO for making changes in the name.
If you have provided a wrong Aadhar number while doing EPF Aadhar link, your account would fail to link with your Aadhar card. So, you can repeat the Aadhar linking process and then provide the correct Aadhar number to successfully link EPF to Aadhar.