EPFO auto-transfers PF when you switch jobs: no more paperwork

Switching jobs no longer means wading through one of the most tedious provident fund formalities. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has started automatically transferring provident fund balances when an employee joins a new company, provided the Universal Account Number (UAN) is linked to Aadhaar. The change eliminates the need for a separate transfer request.

The automatic transfer follows EPFO's migration to its new Centralised IT Enabled Services (CITES) platform, which the organisation says will make member services faster. Until now, members had to initiate a transfer request even after giving their UAN to the new employer and linking the new PF account with the existing UAN.

Previously, transferring PF accumulations from a previous employer to the current account involved several steps. Members submitted a transfer application through the EPFO portal or offline. The request then required processing through the employer and EPFO systems before the balance and service history could merge.

Under the new system, EPFO says Aadhaar-linked UAN-based accounts will transfer automatically when a member changes jobs. Employees will not have to file a separate online or offline transfer application solely to move their PF balance to the latest account.