What is Provident Fund (PF)?

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization introduced PF, a retirement savings scheme, in 1952. All organizations having more than 20 employees are eligible under this scheme. Both the employees and employers have to contribute 12% of their basic pay.

When it can be withdrawn

1. An employee can opt to withdraw either fully or partially.

An employee can withdraw fully when,

• He/She gets retired
• And, when he/she is unemployed for more than 2 months

2. Under specific emergencies, an employee can partially withdraw the PF amount.

S.No	Reason for withdrawal	Years of service required	Limit of withdrawal
1	Education	7 years	50% of his contributions
2	For house construction/purchasing plot	5 years	a. For purchasing land/plot – 24 months of the basic salary including dearness allowance b. For constructing a house – 36 months of the basic salary including dearness allowance
3	House renovation	5 years	a. For purchasing land/plot – 24 months of the basic salary including dearness allowance b. For constructing a house – 36 months of the basic salary including dearness allowance 12 times of monthly salary
4	Medical	No lock-in period	An employee can withdraw up to 6 times the monthly (basic)salary.
5	Marriage	7 years	An employee can withdraw up to 50% of his contributions
6	Years before retirement	Once an individual reaches 54 years	90% of his balance

Steps to withdraw provident fund balance online

• Visit the EPFO portal – epfindia.gov.in
• Select the “For Employees” alternative under the “Our Services” tab.
• On the new page click on the “Part UAN/Online Service (OCS/OTCP)” choice under the “Services” tab of the “For Employees” page.
• This will redirect you to another website page. Sign in to the entrance utilizing your UAN, password, and Captcha code.
• Click on the “KYC” alternative under the “Manage” tab.
• You will be diverted to another website page. Look down to the base of the page to discover the “Digitally Approved KYC” area and check your KYC details. Guarantee the details are right.
• Click on the “Online Service” tab from the top menu to continue with the withdrawal if all the KYC details are right.
• Next, click on the “CLAIM (FORM-31, 19, and 10C)” option from the drop-down menu.
• Later, click on the Claim Form.
• The system will redirect you to another site page with an automatically generated “ONLINE CLAIM (FORM 31, 19, and 10C)” form. Correspondingly, you must enter the Last 4 digits of your bank account number and verify the details. Once the system confirms the account, it will generate an “Authentication of Undertaking.”  Click “Yes” on the pop-up to proceed.
• Click on the “Continue for Online Claim” alternative.
• For online withdrawal, select the “PF ADVANCE (FORM – 31)” choice starting from the drop menu given by the “I want to apply for” option.
• To initiate the withdrawal process, select a reason from the drop-down options provided next to the “Reason for which advance is required” choice. Additionally, you must fill in the fields for the employee’s address and the requested advance amount.
• Click on the checkbox toward the finish of the page and present your withdrawal application.
• When the employer approves the withdrawal request, you may be required to upload certain scanned documents. Subsequently, the EPF account will withdraw and deposit the withdrawal amount into the respective bank account. Once the authorities settle the claim, they will send an SMS notification to your registered mobile number.

Steps to withdraw PF balance offline

• To withdraw the PF balance, an individual should fill the Form 19. It is available in the regional office or from the EPF website.
• Then fill in the specified fields with the relevant information in the application.
• And attest to the signature of any gazette officer or postmaster or notary public or magistrate officer.
• Along with the application, one must attest to the letter for a reason to withdraw the PF balance.
• Later, submit the withdrawal application to the regional office in the office.
• Once you submit the application, you’ll get the amount within 3 months from the submission of the application.
• You will receive the total amount deducted from your account monthly and a high-interest rate of approximately 8.75% per year.