If you have more than one Universal Account Number for EPF, do this now

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) allows individuals to only have one Universal Account Number (UAN). Think of UAN as an umbrella account that can house multiple member IDs.

When you switch jobs, your member ID changes but your UAN remains the same. However, in some cases, you may be allotted a new UAN despite already having one. This can happen if your previous employer did not mention in its record (electronic challan cum return) that you have left the company or if you make an incorrect declaration when joining a new company.

It’s crucial to ensure that you retain a single UAN when switching jobs. That’s because there’s a tax waiver on interest earned in the EPF account if you contribute to it for at least five years. If you get a new UAN when switching jobs, it will start treating money from your new job as fresh contributions.

The EPFO released a circular addressing this issue in 2016. It said that in case two UANs have been issued, the member should apply to transfer money from the previous EPF account to the new one. It would periodically identify cases in which funds were transferred from the old account to the new one and would deactivate or close the old account – “even when no request has been received from the member".

Also read | Instant-redemption liquid funds: better than savings accounts or sweep-in FDs? In case the previous employer was still making payments to the old account, EPFO said, its system would recognise the active UAN against the deactivated one and redirect the funds to the active account. Anurag Jain, founder of By the Book Consulting, said he had three UANs at one point. However, since the EPFO introduced Aadhaar linking, there have been