New Delhi | Jagran Business Desk: Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar Card with PF UAN (universal account number) to get contributions from employers. EPF subscribers have to link their Aadhaar card with the Provident Fund (PF) account before September 1 to get the PF amount. The labour ministry amended Section 142 of the Code of Social Security 2020 to implement this new rule. Under this section, the identity of an employee, an unorganised worker, or any other person is established through Aadhaar number for seeking benefits and availing services.

“Linking of Aadhar with the UAN is mandatory. Effective 1 September 2021, employers will not be able to remit PF for cases where such linking is not done," said Saraswathi Kasturirangan, partner, Deloitte India as quoted by News 18.

“The EPFO has issued a notification whereby it is now the responsibility of the employer to ensure that their employees link their provident fund account to their Aadhar number," Amrita Tonk of L&L Partners said as quoted by News 18.

Earlier the deadline to link Aadhaar Card with PF UAN was June 1. It was deferred to September 1 to give subscribers more time. The retirement body had said that the employer can only file ECR (electronic challan cum receipt or PF return) for those employees who have linked their Aadhaar to PF UAN. As for ECR for non-Aadhaar seeded UAN, the retirement body said that it can be filed after the completion of Aadhaar seeding process.

If your Aadhaar Card is not linked with PF UAN you can lose out on other EPF benefits too including COVID-19 advances announced last month and insurance benefits linked to PF accounts. Linking of Aadhaar with PAN is a basic KYC requirement of all banks, PPF accounts, and EFP accounts. If this is not done, subscribers will face issues with interest credit and withdrawal claims, etc.