What Is The Difference Between UAN No And EPF No?

The Provident Fund is a contribution that is made by both employers and employees towards building a retirement corpus for an employee.

Provident Fund Contribution is around 12 per cent for the employee with an equal number coming from the employer. Any establishment that has more than 20 employees has to register with the EPFO.

Sadly employees leave an organisation and they tend to withdraw all the money. An individual employee contributes an amount each month and the employer too contributes a sum which helps in building a solid retirement corpus over a period of time.

What Is The EPF No?

Unlike the PF account number, the universal account number (UAN) is a unique number assigned to each employee. An employee is expected to hold only one UAN, regardless of the number of organizations in which they work. Whenever an employee changes organization, the 12-digit UAN remains the same. The employee's PF number is linked to the UAN and helps to better manage FP issues such as transfer or withdrawal of FP. To check the balance of the PF UAN number, they must be used to obtain the balance in their pension account. We can go for the UAN PF connection to find the balance.

Universal Account Number :

Unlike the PF account number, the universal account number (UAN) is a unique number assigned to each employee. An employee is expected to hold only one UAN, regardless of the number of organizations in which they work. Whenever an employee changes organization, the 12-digit UAN remains the same. The employee's PF number is linked to the UAN and helps to better manage FP issues such as transfer or withdrawal of FP. To check the balance of the PF UAN number, they must be used to obtain the balance in their pension account. We can go for the UAN PF connection to find the balance.

EPF Contribution:

Employee contribution: Currently, the employee's mandatory monthly contribution is 12% of the monthly salary, which includes the basic monthly salary, the loss compensation and, if applicable, the maintenance allowance. As an employee, it is allowed to increase the contribution up to 100% of the basic salary. These contributions above the compulsory 12 per cent are considered to be a voluntary provident fund (VPF). The contributions paid to VPF can be modified annually by the employee.

Employer contribution:

An employer must match the employee's contribution to 12% of employees' base salary, but the employer is not required to compensate the employee's higher contribution to VPF. However, the total amount of the employer contribution does not go into the employees' PF account. On an employer contribution of 12 per cent, 8.33 per cent (of a maximum of Rs 15,000) goes to the employee pension plan (EPS), or Rs 1,250 each month, while the balance goes to EPF.

How has the UAN been different?

The biggest advantage of the UAN is that it has been a permanent number. Ever since it was introduced 2-3 years ago by the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), it has made life easy for employees. The UAN is a permanent number, which never changes when you change a job or withdraw the money.

Let us assume that as per the present norm you lose your job and are jobless for 2-months. You can now withdraw your money. If you get a new job all over again, you can use the same UAN that was prevailing earlier.

What this means is that it is permanent in nature. The UAN is a 12-digit number. This is what is allotted to you these days in lieu of the old EPF no. If you have not received the same, you should ask your employer for the same.

Once you get your no, you can view your statement and can also download your passbook. This will give you an accurate assessment of your balance and other details, including interest accrued thereof.

Let us see the difference between UAN and EPF NO

The Universal Account Number is a permanent number, while the PF no was originally in the nature of a number that could be changed a number of times. Today, the PF no has gradually ceased to exist, as it has made way for the UAN.

Settlements are much faster in the UAN as compared to PF. These days, the EPFO is looking at the possibility of settling claims in just one week, if you have linked your Aadhar card to the UAN.

So, the major difference between the UAN and PF no is that that the latter has made life easy, by bringing about faster settlements and not to mention greater transparency. No doubt the UAN is much better than the previous EPF number and has evolved tremendously over the last few months.

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