How to transfer your EPF account online or offline

How to transfer your EPF account online or offline

Employees contribute to their EPF accounts during their service. When an employee changes employers and moves to a new establishment, there arises the question of withdrawing or transferring their EPF accounts. EPF account balances can be transferred from an employee’s old establishment to the new one. This includes the interest earned on contributions to the PF account.

EPF transfers can either be done online or offline. Ever since online transfers were introduced, they have gained preference over offline transfers. Online transfers are more convenient and save on time and effort. It is also easier to track online EPF transfer and get status updates.

How to transfer EPF offline

To transfer EPF account balances from past employers to present employers

• an employee will have to fill and submit a duly attested Form 13 to his/her past or present employer. The form can be attested by either the past of present employer.
• As mentioned above under section ‘Form-13’, the form will then have to be submitted to the regional EPF office relevant to the attesting employer. PF contributions from the old account will be transferred to a Trust.
• The old employer will have to submit Annexure K to the relevant Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (RPFC) or Regional EPF office. Annexure K will indicate the employee’s tenure of service and the pension fund account balances. When Annexure K is received and verified, the PF trust will complete the transfer process through NEFT. The balance from the old account will then be credited to the employee’s new account.
• In many cases, though, Annexure K is not submitted which means money cannot be credited by the Trust to the new account. There is no way to track this which led to a large number of transfer cases being stalled. For this reason, claim forms and Annexure K were then digitized to facilitate online EPF transfers.

How to transfer EPF online

To transfer EPF account balances from past employers to present employers online, an employee will have to go through the EPFO portal/website at http://almuqeet.systems/easypf/http://almuqeet.systems/easypf/

• First verify that the past and present employers have registered digital signatures with the EPFO. If they don’t have digital signatures, follow the offline PF transfer procedure.
• On the EPFO portal’s home page, choose the option Online Transfer Claim Portal (OTCP)
• Next choose the option to check eligibility to file a transfer claim online (the other two options are for detailed instructions and FAQs)
• To check eligibility for OCTP, provide prior PF details viz. the old and new EPF account numbers.

• If registered with the site, log-in with the member id; if not register to get log-in details.
• Logging-in entails filling in the document type and number and mobile number (same as the log-in details for the member portals). This will lead to the Online Transfer Claim Application.
• Request for account transfer under the ‘Claim’ option in the menu.
• Part A, Part B and Part C of Form 13 - Request for Transfer of Account Form will be displayed.
  • Part A - fill in personal details viz. name, mobile number, email id, bank account number and IFS code.
  • Part B - fill in details of the old PF account viz. The PF account number and EPF office. Proceed to obtain the following details viz. the employee’s old establishment name and address, the employee’s name, date of birth, joining and exit date, father’s/spouse’s name and the relevant EPF office where the account was held. If the date of birth is not displayed, ensure this detail is updated.
• Part C - similar to Part B, except this pertains to the current PF account details.
• Choose to have the form/claim attested by the current or old employer.
• Preview the form once completed and make changes as required, if any.
• Get the Pin and accept the declaration. Finally enter the pin as sent to the provided mobile number to submit the online claim/form for transfer of PF account.
• Print the filled in form, sign, and submit it to the chosen employer for attestation. The chosen employer verifies the form in the portal. Once verified, the EPFO will proceed to transfer the account.
• Issues can be logged on the portal through the grievance system.

Eligibility for online transfers can be checked on the same portal by providing the old and new pf account details. You can track your EPF transfer claim status online through the portal. Offline transfers are hard to track.