Employee Provident Fund: For social security of working people with any government organisation, corporate sector or with any private entity, the provident fund is a compulsory, government-managed retirement savings scheme, under which employees contribute a portion of their
salaries into this fund and employers also contribute on behalf of their employees.
salaries into this fund and employers also contribute on behalf of their employees.
The amount in this fund is paid out to the employee when he/she retires. However, if the employee wants to check his amount, he can very easily come to know about his savings so far. Earlier, it used to be a cumbersome process, but with the digitisation, this has become very easy. You can check your EPF balance at the click of a button. Now the provision has also been made that in lack of online facility with you, this can be done through SMS also.
This facility of allowing employees to have access to check their EPF balance has helped them plan their expenses, and take loan against their EPF balance if they have some requirement. Notably, for checking PF balance, you must have activated your Universal Account Number (UAN).
The UAN is unique number for all the employees enrolled with the EPF scheme. Allotted by the Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), the employees need to have only one UAN during their working life irrespective of the jobs they have changed.
According to information available on the EPFO website, you can check the status of your PF balance using the following methods:-
EPFO Portal
Those who have their PF account and have a UAN number can avail this facility on the EPFO website. They just need to follow the steps given below:
1. You should first log on to the EPFO portal, and then click on the tab ‘Our Services’ to choose the option saying “for employees” from the drop-down menu.
2. You can now click on ‘Member passbook’ under the “Services” option. This will show your login page.
3. You should enter your UAN number and password once it is activated. After EPF login, you would be able to access your EPF account.
Notably, there are other ways to know your PF balance, if are not having internet access.
Facility through an SMS
In this case, also, you need to have to integrate your UAN number with your KYC details. If you have already completed this formality, follow the steps given below:
1. You can send an SMS to mobile number 7738299899 with the message as EPFOHO UAN ENG.
2. Prior to sending this message, you should set your preferred language of communication, by using the first three characters of that language. If you wish to receive updates in English, use the first three characters of English as EPFOHO UAN ENG.
3. Similarly, you can also get message updates in languages including English, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Bengali.
