Provident fund (PF) is the designated small savings scheme which has been institutionalised to create a buffer for long-term for all the salaried-class people in India. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) manages the EPF account
of all the registered individuals, as well as the credit, disbursal, claim status and passbook of provident fund account holders.
of all the registered individuals, as well as the credit, disbursal, claim status and passbook of provident fund account holders.
A person is allowed to withdraw the provident fund balance after retirement. However, the EPFO has certain provisions under which a salaried individual can apply for partial/premature withdrawals from the EPF account to meet the monetary requirements. The provident fund balance withdrawn before completion of 5 years is taxable also. Namely, a person is eligible to withdraw the partial amount from the provident fund account in case of unemployment, retirement, marriage/education of children, illness, loan repayment, purchase of land/house, renovation of house etc.
People who have applied for the withdrawal of provident fund balance can check the claim status through the EPFO online portal, www.epfindia.gov.in. A person who wishes to check the provident fund claim status can click ‘For Employees’ option given under the drop-down menu of ‘Our Services’ option on the EPFO website. After this, you can click on ‘Member Passbook’ to visit the EPF passbook login page. A registered user can log in with the valid UAN number and password.
You can select the member ID for which you want to check the claim status and then click on ‘View Claim Status’ option given on the extreme right of the page. The PF claim status for the selected member ID will be shown. Earlier last month, the EPFO notified an interest rate of 8.65 per cent on provident fund deposits for the financial year 2018-19. The EPFO has started crediting the interest in the EPF accounts of the individuals from this month.
