The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has announced that it has modified the need for some eligible cases to upload an image of a cheque leaf or a verified bank passbook.
This will assist in speeding up the settlement of online claims and reduce the number of claims that are denied because the image of the cheque leaf/attested bank passbook was not uploaded when the claim was submitted online.
Validations include online verification of bank KYC by the relevant bank/NPCI, verification of bank KYC by the employer using DSC, and verification of seeded Aadhaar numbers by UIDAI, among others.
“With the aim of facilitating the timely settlement of claims filed online and reducing claim rejections owing to the failure to upload an image of a cheque leaf/attested bank passbook when submitting claims online. The CPFC has decided to relax the requirement of mandatory uploading of the image of the cheque leaf/attested bank passbook for certain eligible cases based on certain validations, which include Online Verification of the Bank KYC by the concerned Bank/NPCI, Verification of Bank KYC by the employer using DSC, and Seeded Aadhaar Number verified by UIDAI, among others.” as per EPFO recently released Circular.
The Circular main points are as follows:
The bank KYC has been online verified by the bank and has been digitally signed by the employer for this case, among other validations; thus, mandatory uploading of the image of the cheque leaf/attested bank passbook is not required.
Claims that qualify for this relaxation will soon be colour-tagged to make it easier for officers to identify them. This will help to avoid any unintended claims being returned because the bank passbook or cheque leaf image was not uploaded.
Compulsory to attach the Cancelled Original Cheque with the Claim Form?
A cancelled original cheque with the member’s name, bank account number, and the bank’s IFSC code should be printed on it. If the member’s bank account does not have a ‘chequebook’ facility, a copy of the first page of the passbook, duly attested by the bank manager, may be included with the claim form.
Process for Online Claim Submission:
By following the steps given below, one can submit the claim online:-
Step 1: Log in to the EPFO Member Portal using UAN credentials.
Step 2: Navigate to the member portal’s “Claim” section.
Step 3: Choose the relevant claim you want to submit (e.g., pension, full settlement, etc.).
Step 4: To complete the online claim filing, authenticate using the OTP received on the mobile number registered with UIDAI.