To get the employer’s contribution in Provident Fund (PF) account, it is now mandatory to link Aadhaar card with the UAN (universal account number). The new rule is effective from June, the retirement body earlier mentioned. The recent change in section 142 of the Code of Social Security 2020 has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar card with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account.
“Failure to link the UAN with the Aadhar would result in the employer’s contribution not being credited into the employee’s account,” said Amrita Tonk, Partner, L&L Partners.
“The Code on Social Security, 2020 is a legislation to amend and consolidate the laws relating to social security with the goal to extend social security to all employees and workers in the organised/unorganised or any other sectors. Under this section, it is mandatory to provide Aadhaar number by employees and unorganised sector workers who are seeking registration, benefits or expect to receive any payment under various schemes. The EPFO has issued a notification whereby it is now the responsibility of the employer to ensure that their employees link their provident fund account to their Aadhar number,” she added.
The retirement body has also updated the filing norms for Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR). The employer can only file for those employees who have linked their Aadhaar to PF UAN, EPFO said. “Employer can file separate ECR for non-Aadhaar seeded UAN after completion of Aadhaar seeding process,” the regulatory body said.
“Employers will not be able to remit the PF contributions where the Aadhaar is not linked to the UAN effective June 1 2021. Hence there will be a delay in remittance till the time the employee updates Aadhaar under the KYC details in the EPFO portal, and the same is approved both by the employer and the respective RPFC,” said Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner, Deloitte India.
You will lose out on other EPF benefits too if your Aadhaar details are not updated. This includes taking COVID-19 advances announced last month and insurance benefits linked to PF accounts. “The linking of PAN and Aadhaar to the under is a basic KYC requirement of all banks, PPF accounts and EFP accounts. If this is not done then as an enforcement measure interest credit and withdrawal claims will face issues such as rejection,” said Vidisha Krishan, partner at law firm MV Kini.
However do not worry if you have not linked your Aadhaar and PF account yet. You can easily log in to www.epfindia.gov.in with your username and password and link the documents. “Once the linking is established, the employer will need to remit PF contributions for the past periods, and this could trigger interest and penalties on the employer,” Saraswathi Kasturirangan explained.
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