With Online Transfer Claim Portal (OTCP) now in place since October this year, Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) allows employees to do away with the otherwise physical documentation required to transfer PF balance with old employee to the new employee. So, in case you wish to avoid your PF account to be dormant, follow the simple process and cash in on the provident fund claim from your previous employer and earn higher interest rate on the total sum through the transfer.

To effect online transfer of PF account or funds in a successful way, here is a guideline detailing the procedure. Visit www.epfindia.com website, go to the provided OTCP link.

As per the instructions therein check your eligibility to transfer the claim. The process require you to enter your PF account number with the old employer as well as the new employer registered with the EPFO office. As there are few-prerequisites for processing the transfer claim online, such as the mandatory registration of digital signatures of the authorized signatory of the employer and presence of both the previous PF account no. and current PF account no. in the EPFO database, the portal first confirms your eligibility.

Later, after the portal confirms your eligibility to follow the online route to effect the transfer, you can register yourself for obtaining the member ID. Thereafter you need to fill up the EPF Transfer Claim Form known as Form 13. Some of the details to be furnished in the form include both the PF account numbers with the previous and current employer, date of joining and leaving the previous employer etc. An important point to take note of while filling up the form is wrong entry of your date of birth in three consecutive attempts which is tallied simultaneously with the records in the EPFO database results in you being barred from the online claim process. So, take utmost caution while filling up the form.

Other feature 'The following information is incorrect' of the new form allows you to rectify any wrong details concerning your previous employment. However, the same needs to be verified by your previous employer and then submitted to the provident fund organization. Further to complete the process, you need to get the attestation of either of the employer for verification purpose. However, for this both the employers must have registered their digital signature certificate with the EPFO body. Also, if you wish your claim to be processed rather quickly in case your details within the EPFO database are not complete get the form attested by the previous employer.

For the submission of the duly signed copy of the printed transfer claim form with the employer, employee is allowed 15 days from the date of online form submission at the portal.

To know the stage of your claim, you can check through the ' View the Status of Transfer Claims' under the Claim tab. Also know about the offline mode of filing the PF transfer.

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