EPF withdrawal eased: No cheque upload or employer approval needed

Are you planning to withdraw money from your Employees’ Provident Fund account? Then there’s an important update. The government has announced two major changes to make the claim process simpler and faster.

Two Key EPF Reforms

EPF members will no longer need to upload a cheque leaf or an attested copy of their bank passbook while filing claims online. And the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has also removed the requirement for employer approval when linking bank accounts with the Universal Account Number.

Mansukh Mandaviya Announces Changes

The announcement regarding these changes was made by Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. In a post on social media platform X, Mandaviya wrote, “EPFO continues its reform journey! Two major reforms have been introduced to make the claim settlement process simpler, faster, and hassle-free for crores of EPF members & employers: No need to upload image of cheque leaf/ attested bank passbook. Bank account seeding with UAN no longer requires employer approval.” Embed Tweet: https://x.com/mansukhmandviya/status/1907706490196017506 Sharing the details on these changes, a statement issued by the government said, “EPFO has completely dispensed with the requirement of uploading an image of a cheque leaf or attested bank passbook while filing online claims. This requirement was initially relaxed on a pilot basis for certain KYC-updated members. Since its launch on 28th May, 2024, the move has already benefited 1.7 crore EPF members.”Talking about the removal of employer approval for seeding bank account details with Universal Account Number (UAN), the statement said, “with a view to facilitate ‘Ease of Doing Business’ to the Employers and ‘Ease of Living’ to the Members, the role of Employer to approve the verification of bank account has now been dispensed with in the seeding process of the member’s Bank Account. This will immediately benefit over 14.95 lakh members whose approvals are pending with the Employers.”