Universal Account Number or UAN is a one-stop destination to manage all your EPF accounts. Since it became mandatory in 2014, EPF account holders have only benefited from UAN. It allows users to enjoy every benefit of EPF, such as the high EPF interest rate, a longer service duration, and several other pension-related features. But UAN activation also has its own prerequisites, procedures and advantages. And knowing them will help you when you wish to activate your UAN and make use of every feature in EPF. So read on and learn as you go through these processes of UAN activation.
Unique Account Number (UAN)
UAN is an identification number for EPF account holders and an umbrella for all their PF accounts. There are strict rules from EPFO about UAN, which allows a person to only have one UAN during their entire employment. Each new employer provides you with a different EPF account, but the UAN remains the same, and you can add all the EPF accounts under the UAN. So UAN is a sort of customer ID for EPFO who manages EPF accounts.
Mostly the employer creates UAN for the employee who doesn't have one yet. After UAN generation, they provide the detail of UAN to the employee so they can manually activate UAN. Listing all EPF accounts owned during the career makes it easier for people to show continuous work experience even with the employer changes. With UAN, you can perform all the tasks related to EPF online and in a centralised manner.
EPF in itself is an important investment scheme for employed people working in EPF eligible companies. A prerequisite for EPF is that the company has at least 20 employees. Even though it is mandatory to make EPF contributions while working in such companies, people still opt for voluntary EPF when their company doesn't meet the primary criterion for EPF eligibility. The reason why EPF basks in such popularity is mainly because of its high EPF interest rate. Other motives for people's inclination towards them include their features like capital protection, government handled, steady growth, and higher returns than projected inflation.
Prerequisite Documents For UAN Activation
Before you move forward with UAN activation, you must first arrange some documents. You will just require to input the credentials of these documents and don't need to upload any of them. Given below are some of the UAN documents:
* Proof of Date of Birth
* Proof of Name
* Aadhaar Card
* PAN Card
* Salary Slip with new EPF and UAN details
* Bank Account Details where Salary deposits
The Process For UAN Activation
Follow these easy steps of UAN activation to activate UAN in an instant.
* Open the EPFO UAN Activation Portal
* Input the UAN provided by the employer
* Input the required personal details from the documents
* Tick the box which asks for OTP based verification thorough Aadhaar
* Click on Get Authorisation Pin
* You will get an OTP on the mobile number linked with Aadhaar
* Input the OTP
* Click on Validate OTP
* Click on Activate UAN
After these procedures, you will get a confirmation message from EPFO regarding the status of your UAN activation.
Advantages Of Activating UAN
Given below are some of the major advantages among the plenty.
Access To UAN
Activating UAN gets you full access to UAN features in EPFO. Your UAN will become the username of your EPFO profile for login purposes too. So UAN activation is necessary to enjoy the benefits of UAN.
A haven for all your EPF accounts
As per rules, you have to list all your past employers and your current employer in the same UAN. This makes it easy for you when you need to gather documents for taxation or pension-related procedures.
Low to nil employer mediation
After UAN activation, you will only seldom require the assistance of the employer as a mediator between you and EPFO. You can perform most of the procedures and even withdraw funds without waiting for the employer's approval.
Self-management of pension fund
UAN allows privately employed professionals to manage their own pension fund. Through it, they can know everything about the pension fund accumulated to date. And also get assistance in calculating the future returns from all the EPF accounts in the UAN.
If your employment is eligible for UAN or EPF and you haven't yet opted for it, then you are missing out on many things. The 8.1% EPF interest rate itself is enough to attract more people to this amazing long term investment plan. So make use of it to secure your and your family's future and invest in EPF right away.
