The Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) allows individuals to have only one Universal Account Number (UAN). Think of UAN as an umbrella account that can house multiple member IDs. When you change jobs, your member ID will change, but your UAN will remain the same.
In some cases, however, you may be assigned a new UAN even though you already have one. This can happen if your previous employer has not mentioned in his file (electronic challan cum return) that you have left the company or if you file an incorrect declaration when joining a new company.
It is crucial to ensure that you keep one UAN if you change jobs. This is because there is a tax exemption on the interest earned on the EPF account if you contribute to it for a minimum of five years. If you get a new UAN when you change jobs, it will start treating the money from your new job as new contributions.
EPFO addressed this issue in 2016
The EPFO issued a circular in 2016 addressing this issue. It states that if two UANs are issued, the member will have to apply to transfer money from the previous EPF account to the new one.
It would periodically identify cases where money was transferred from the old account to the new one and deactivate or close the old account – “even if no request is received from the member”.
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If the previous employer was still making payments to the old account, EPFO said, the system would recognize the active UAN from the deactivated one and divert the money to the active account.
Why it’s important to have just one account
Anurag Jain, founder of By the Book Consulting, said he once had three UANs. However, since the EPFO introduced Aadhaar linking, there have been fewer cases of this as the system automatically detects if someone with an existing UAN is trying to open a new account.
Those with multiple UANs should log into their old account and transfer the money to the new one, Jain said. The process can be completed online, but members must ensure their KYC details are correct when doing so. If this is not done, “employees may face difficulty in claiming the money separately,” says Vishwanath BG, associate director, Mercer Wealth India Pvt Ltd.
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Sometimes a new employer creates a new UAN with Aadhar linkage, but the member forgets to link his old UAN, which was not linked to Aadhar, with the new one. In such cases, the EPFO may start treating the new UAN as a new member, says Adarsh Vir Singh, founder of Nidhi Niyojan. In such cases, benefits such as the pension – which depends on the duration for which a participant contributes to the scheme – may be affected. He advised people with multiple UANs to transfer their old balances to the new Aadhar-linked account to ensure continuity.
How to merge UAN accounts
Kustodian Life CEO Kunal Kabra said that to merge two UAN accounts, one simply needs to log into their current UAN account, navigate to the ‘Online Services’ section and select ‘One Member, One EPF Account ‘ to select.
Then enter the UAN of the account you want to merge. You must then choose whether you want to obtain a certificate from your previous or current employer. Once all the details are filled and verified with Aadhaar, you can submit the merge request.
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“After authentication, download Form-13. Also check the status in ‘Track Claims’ and take a screenshot. Send an email to the employer with a screenshot for quick approval,” Kabra said. He added, “If the PF account was created before 2014 and does not have a UAN, you can find the member ID and use it to to start the merging process.”
Alternatively, you can send an email to uanepf@epfindia.gov.in with details of your current and previous UAN. “If your UANs have been merged but your PF balance has not been transferred, you will have to submit a request for the same on the EPFO website,” Kabra said.
