Changing jobs is a common thing these days, but a small mistake made in haste can affect your years of hard-earned money. Many employees do not disclose their old UAN (Universal Account Number) while joining a new company, the result is that a new UAN is created in their name. In this way, the same person has two or more UANs, which is wrong as per EPFO rules.
UAN is a 12 digit permanent number, which should be used only once in the entire career. All your EPF accounts are linked to this number. If your PF money is divided among different UANs, then it can become a big problem for you in future. The biggest loss is of interest. EPFO gives regular interest only on active accounts. If an EPF account remains inactive for more than three years, interest on it stops. That is, the money lying in the PF account linked to the old UAN gradually starts becoming useless.
Danger on tax front
Not only this, there is danger on the tax front also. If your total employment period has been more than five years, but it is divided among different UANs, then you may have to pay tax on withdrawing PF at the time of need. The reason is that you will not be able to prove five years of continuous service. The reason for creating more than one UAN is usually wrong information. Small difference in spelling of Aadhaar, PAN or name, mismatch of date of birth or non-updation of exit date by the previous company. All these reasons can become the reason for creating a new UAN. Therefore, before merging, it is important that the name, date of birth and gender in your Aadhaar, PAN and EPFO records are exactly the same. KYC should be complete and verified, and exit date of old job should be updated.
If all the information is correct, then merging the UAN is easy. Old PF account can be transferred to your existing active UAN through One MemberOne EPF Account service by logging into EPFO’s member portal. After the request is submitted, a tracking number is given, through which you can see the complete status. If you also have more than one UAN, do not ignore it. If you merge today, you will be able to save the loss of both interest and tax.
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