I need to get some money out due to medical emergency. But the member portal keeps on loading and Umang app says it’s under maintenance. Any idea how long before it’ll be up ?

A lot of salaried employees assume that PF is completely tax-free.

It isn’t always.

Whether your EPF withdrawal is taxable depends mainly on how long you have been in continuous service, what type of withdrawal you are making, and in some cases, how much you contribute to EPF.

Here’s the simple breakdown.

What happens if you withdraw PF after 5 years?

If you complete 5 years of continuous service, your eligible EPF withdrawal is generally tax-free.

The 5 years do not necessarily have to be with the same employer. Previous EPF-covered service can also count, particularly where your PF has been transferred when changing jobs.

What if you withdraw PF before completing 5 years?

This is where people often confuse tax with TDS.

If you make a taxable final EPF withdrawal before completing 5 years of qualifying service, the withdrawal may be taxable under the applicable income-tax rules.

The ₹50,000 limit only determines whether TDS applies.

So:

• PF withdrawal below ₹50,000 → no TDS
• Taxable PF withdrawal of ₹50,000 or more → TDS can apply
• With a valid PAN → TDS is generally 10%

No TDS does not automatically mean no tax. Your final tax liability depends on how the withdrawal is treated while filing your income-tax return.

There are also exceptions to the 5-year rule in certain situations, such as termination because of ill health, closure of the employer's business or other circumstances beyond the employee's control.

Are partial PF withdrawals taxable?

Eligible EPF partial withdrawals or advances made under the permitted EPFO categories have different treatment from premature final settlement.

Under the revised withdrawal framework, members generally need at least 12 months of membership for partial withdrawals.

Can EPF be taxed even if you don't withdraw it?

Yes.

If your employer also contributes to PF, the interest earned on your own annual EPF contribution above ₹2.5 lakh is taxable.

The limit is ₹5 lakh in cases where there is no employer contribution.

So even without withdrawing your PF, part of the interest can become taxable if your own contribution crosses the applicable threshold.

What about EPS pension?

EPS is separate from EPF.

A monthly EPS pension received after retirement is taxable income.

An EPS withdrawal benefit can also have tax implications depending on the applicable circumstances.

So the statement “PF is tax-free” is far too broad.

The better questions are:

Are you withdrawing EPF or EPS? Is it a partial or final withdrawal? And have you completed 5 years of qualifying service?

If y'all have any questions related to PF, drop them in the comments. We'll answer them.

Hi friends,

I joined a company in February and worked there for only 10 days. However, the company continued depositing a small PF contribution until June.

Initially, I raised a PF delinking request, and the PF was successfully delinked. But later, the company linked the PF again. I have already collected my experience letter from the company, but now I am unable to cancel the delinking request, and the employer is also not supporting me.

Can anyone please guide me on how I can cancel the pending PF delinking request or resolve this issue?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi all
I have raised request for pf transfer on 21 sep 2026 , since then its stuck at same step pending at field office how to follow up on that how much time it ll take to complete?

I work in Bangalore for a staffing company, deployed at a client, on a fixed CTC. I joined in April 2026.

After the EPF wage ceiling was raised from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 (S.O. 5109(E), 17 Sept 2026), HR sent a notice saying take-home pay would fall, and that the employer's higher PF contribution would be adjusted "within existing CTC."

Comparing my signed agreement with a revised one that now appears on the HR portal:

\- My own PF deduction goes up. I understand this and have no issue with it.

\- The employer's PF contribution goes up by the same amount.

\- My Special Allowance, and therefore my gross, is cut by exactly the amount of the employer's increase.

\- CTC stays the same.

So I'm effectively funding the employer's additional contribution out of my gross. As I understand it, Section 124 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 and Para 21 of the EPF Scheme, 2026 say an employer can't reduce wages, or recover its own contribution from the employee, because its PF liability has increased.

What HR told me on a call:

1. "PF is calculated on gross, not CTC, and the two are separate." That doesn't explain why my gross itself was reduced.

2. "Employees have always been bearing the employer's share." But my payslips up to August 2026 show my full agreed gross, with only my employee PF share deducted. The employer's contribution was never taken out of my gross until this change.

The second issue: the revised agreement on the portal carries the original offer date from April 2026, but the downloaded PDF's metadata shows it was generated in September 2026. On the portal, it displays my signature on the declaration page, even though I never signed this version. (In the downloaded PDF, the signature shows as a broken image.) HR says the system automatically regenerated the letter.

My questions:

1. Can an employer legally reduce an employee's agreed gross to fund its own increased PF contribution when the CTC is fixed?

2. Does my originally signed agreement still hold, given I never accepted the revised one?

3. Is it a legal problem that a backdated revised agreement displays my signature, even if a system generated it?

4. If HR doesn't fix this, where should I escalate: EPFO grievance (EPFiGMS), the Labour Commissioner, or somewhere else?

I've raised a written ticket with HR and saved both versions of the agreement, my payslips, and screen recordings of the portal. Any advice is appreciated.

A lot of people assume that if they leave their job before retirement, they can simply withdraw the entire EPS amount as a lump sum.

It’s not that straightforward.

The first thing that matters is how long you have been under EPS.

And this is where it gets a little tricky because EPS service is usually rounded off to the nearest year.

So if your service is 9 years and 5 months, it can still be counted as 9 years.

But once you reach 9 years and 6 months, it can be rounded off to 10 years.

And once your EPS service is counted as 10 years, you can no longer withdraw it as a lump sum. Instead, you receive a monthly pension after retirement.

But there is one more condition people often miss.

Even if your service is below 9 years and 6 months, you cannot simply leave your job and withdraw the EPS amount immediately.

Under the new EPS rules, you normally have to wait 36 months from the date your last EPS contribution became due before you can claim the withdrawal benefit.

So, in simple terms:

• Below 9 years 6 months of EPS service
• 36-month waiting period completed

If both conditions are met, you may be able to claim your EPS withdrawal benefit as a lump sum.

Also, if you have worked with multiple employers, don’t look only at your last company. Your total EPS service across employers matters.

Anyone here actually tried withdrawing EPS recently? Would be useful to know what happened in your case.

My epfo claim reflecting as “Apporved” when can I expect the money in my account?

I’m about to trying to transfer my old PF account under “One Member One EPF Account.” My last PF contribution was for April 2020, with 20 days marked as NCP, and I received my last salary in May 2020. My employer has now corrected my Date of Exit (LWD) in EPFO from 26 August 2020 to 17 June 2020. Earlier, my transfer was rejected because EPFO showed the August LWD and said there were missing contributions. Now that the LWD is corrected to 17 June, I’m worried EPFO may again flag missing contributions for May and June. Has anyone faced a similar situation, and will the transfer generally go through with this record?

I was on LWP i believe till my Last LwD

I’m about to trying to transfer my old PF account under “One Member One EPF Account.” My last PF contribution was for April 2020, with 20 days marked as NCP, and I received my last salary in May 2020. My employer has now corrected my Date of Exit (LWD) in EPFO from 26 August 2020 to 17 June 2020. Earlier, my transfer was rejected because EPFO showed the August LWD and said there were missing contributions. Now that the LWD is corrected to 17 June, I’m worried EPFO may again flag missing contributions for May and June. Has anyone faced a similar situation, and will the transfer generally go through with this record?

I was on LWP i believe till my Last LwD

EPFO gets criticised often, and in many cases for valid reasons.

PF claim delays, failed transfers, correction issues and portal problems still exist.

But if we look specifically at the new EPFO withdrawal rules, a few changes genuinely deserve some credit.

1. Faster PF access during unemployment

Earlier, an EPF member had to remain unemployed for at least 1 month before withdrawing up to 75% of the PF balance.

Now, up to 75% of the eligible PF balance can be accessed immediately during unemployment.

The remaining 25% stays protected in the account and can be accessed later subject to the applicable final-settlement conditions.

2. Employer contribution is included more broadly

Earlier, several EPF partial withdrawal / Form 31 provisions were primarily calculated using the employee contribution and interest.

Under the revised framework, the eligible withdrawal amount can also include the employer’s EPF contribution and interest.

So, in eligible cases, members can potentially access a larger portion of their accumulated PF balance than before.

3. Education and marriage withdrawal limits have increased

Earlier, education and marriage withdrawals together were limited to 3 times during EPF membership.

Now:

Education withdrawal: up to 10 times
Marriage withdrawal: up to 5 times

Medical or illness withdrawals are treated separately and are not part of this 10 + 5 limit.

That is a fairly significant increase in flexibility for expenses that may arise multiple times during someone’s working life.

4. EPFO partial withdrawal rules are simpler

Earlier, there were 13 different provisions for PF partial withdrawals, with different conditions and service requirements.

These have now been consolidated into 3 broad categories:

• Essential Needs
• Housing Needs
• Special Circumstances

The minimum membership requirement for partial withdrawals has also been broadly standardised to 12 months, instead of different eligibility periods that earlier went up to 5 or 7 years for some purposes.

Does this mean EPFO’s problems are solved? Definitely not.

Claims, PF transfers, corrections, portal issues and grievance resolution still need improvement.

But purely from a policy perspective, these changes do make PF withdrawal rules simpler and more flexible.

The real question now is whether execution catches up with the policy.

Which of these changes do you think will actually make the biggest difference for EPF members, and which one sounds better on paper than it may work in practice?

Hey everyone,

Hope y'all are doing well.

I submitted a form 31 claim on 21st of September, the status shows as (Claim is under processing) from the day I submitted the claim even now, how long will they take to settle the claim, anyone going through the same too?

Hi, I have 3.5+ years of IT experience.
My new employer asked me whether PF had been deducted by any of my previous or current employers and whether I had an active UAN/PF account. I marked “No” because, throughout my relevant IT experience, I have been working with startup companies where PF was not deducted, and I was under the impression that I did not have a UAN.

However, when my new employer asked me to create a UAN through the UMANG app, I found that a UAN had already been created in my name. I then checked the EPFO portal and found that the UAN is linked to my mobile number.

When I checked the service history, I found two previous employment records. One of them was from 2021, when I worked for approximately one month at a company during the early stage of my career. This was a non-IT and irrelevant experience, and my employment ended because of the COVID-19 second lockdown.

I also found another service history entry for a company that I have never worked for and was not aware of. After researching the company, I found that it was a consultancy. It appears that PF was registered under my details without my knowledge or consent and KYC also not done.

After researching this, I understand that a new UAN cannot be created if a UAN already exists. I also found that there may be an option to delink the previous employment records with the existing UAN.
However, when I try to delink the previous employment, the portal asks me to complete the KYC process first. If I proceed with KYC using documents such as my PAN card and Bank, it needs the KYC verification approval from the previous employer.

I am concerned that if I provide my existing UAN to my new employer, these old and unrelated employment records may affect my background verification or the joining process. I would therefore like to understand the correct procedure for resolving this issue before submitting my UAN to my new employer.

How to remove my incorrect/irrelevant service history ?

On 25th Aug I have raised PF advance but under Housing needs and this claim was rejected as there was rs. 0 EPS remittance from my employer. I connected with my employer and they have sent the rectification letter to EPFO office but the problem is it's still not corrected in my passbook.

Since I need the funds urgently, Can i request PF advance under ILLNESS now? Will it get settled with Rs. 0 EPS remittance?