EPFO Rule: Most people working in the private sector save and invest a part of their income for future financial security, and a PF is a great option. It reduces financial worries after retirement to a great extent by giving the account holders the benefit of a pension under EPS-95. However, to get this benefit, account holders have to follow certain conditions.

What is EPS?

PF account holders need to understand what is EPS, i.e., Employee Pension Scheme. Often, people are confused about it. This is a pension scheme, which is managed by the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). Existing and new EPF members are included in this scheme. To avail of this, the employee has to fulfill only one condition. According to the rules of EPFO, any employee becomes entitled to get a pension after 10 years of service. It plays an important role in providing financial security after retirement.

EPFO manages-

Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) was launched by EPFO ​​on 19 November 1995, which is a social security initiative aimed at meeting the retirement needs of employees in the organized sector. It is managed by EPFO ​​, and this scheme guarantees a pension benefit to eligible employees who reach the age of 58 years. If we look at the rules, 9 years and 6 months of service are also counted as 10 years. If the time of service is less than 9 and a half years, then it will be counted as 9 years only. In such a situation, employees can withdraw the amount deposited in the Pension Account even before the age of retirement, but they are not entitled to a pension.

Calculation of PF-
A large part of the salary of people working in the private sector is deducted as PF, which is deposited in the employee's PF account every month. If you work in a private job for 10 years, you become eligible to get a pension. According to the rules, 12 percent of the employee's basic salary + DA is deposited in the PF account every month. Out of which the employee's entire share goes to EPF, while the employer's 8.33% goes to the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS), and 3.67% goes to EPF every month.

Question on tenure less than 10 years-
It was told that a pension is confirmed only after working for 10 years, so now the question arises, that if the employee has worked in two different institutions for 5-5 years, then what will happen? Or, if there was a gap of two years between the two jobs, will that employee be entitled to a pension or not? If we look at the rules, despite the gap in the job, one gets the benefit of a pension even after completing a tenure of 10 years by combining the entire job. Here, the employee mustn't change his UAN number in every job; the old UAN number will have to be continued. That is, a total tenure of 10 years should be completed on a single UAN. Because even after changing the job, the UAN remains the same, and the entire money deposited in the PF account will be visible in the same UAN.

What is a UAN number?

Universal Account Number (UAN) is a 12-digit number, which the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) gives to every member. This number remains stable throughout the employee's career and remains the same even after changing jobs. There can be many member IDs linked to UAN, but all of them are linked to the same UAN.

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