The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Wednesday said that subscribers can now check their EPF balance through the e-passbook facility, which was out of service the past few days. The facility was down for many days and users lodged their complaints and posted their concerns on social media platforms. On Wednesday, replying to a concerned subscriber, EPFO said that the services have been restored.
In the past few days, subscribers reported that they were seeing an error message while they were checking their EPF balance online. The message read: "EPFO services are not available due to technical maintenance issues. Sorry for the inconvenience."
Earlier, the EPFO declared on its website that the services will resume on January 17, 2023. “The e-passbook facility will be available from 5 pm onwards". But the subscribers reported that till late on January 17, the services were not restored. The EPFO website read: Member Passbook Portal shall not be available on account of Technical Maintenance-related issues.
EPF e-passbook
EPFO allows subscribers to view their balance online via the e-passbook, which contains the entire list of entries of subscribers and company contributions for each month.
Besides, it also mentions the pension outgo, and the interest, if any, that has been credited to the beneficiary's account.
The information is divided into the following subheads.
Establishment ID and the name of the company (Employer): The e-passbook has entries from the company the subscriber works for along with establishment ID, which is a 7-digit number assigned to the organisation under the EPF scheme 1952.
Member ID and the member’s name (Employee): The passbook then mentions the subscriber’s (employee) name and her/his member ID. The Member ID is the number given by EPFO to allow the employer to submit EPF and EPS contributions for the employee.
Employees' and employers' shares: The passbook then shows a column with the break-up of employees and the employer's month-wise contribution. The portion that goes towards EPS is also shown separately.
Interest earned: The interest earned on the employee's and the employer's contributions is credited to the PF account once a year.
Withdrawals: Any withdrawals that subscribers make are also shown in the passbook.
How to check your EPF balance:
Step 1: Log on to EPFO's official website — epfindia.gov.in.
Step 2: Press on the ‘Our Services’ tab and choose the option that says “for employees”
Step 3: Click on the option ‘Member Passbook’.
Step 4: The EPF passbook page -- passbook.epfindia.gov.in -- will appear. Enter the username, the UAN, and the password.
Step 5: Once logged in, the abovementioned details of the employee are displayed.