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EPF Form 31

The EPFO or Employees’ Provident Fund Organization offers an online facility where the employees can make a partial withdrawal or take advance from their PF Corpus under certain conditions. This can be done through EPF Form 31. The form is available on the UAN Portal. However, to apply for EPF advance online, the employee must have his/her bank details, Aadhaar Card, and PAN card details updated on the portal.

Format of EPF Form 31

Here is how EPF Form 31 looks like-

Content of EPF Form 31

EPF Form 31 contains the following information that needs to be filled by the employee, employer, and the EPF commissioner. 

Details to be filled by the Employee

• Contact number
• The purpose for which advance is required
• Required advance amount
• Name of the member
• Husband’s name
• Employee PF Account Number
• Monthly basic wages plus dearness allowance
• Full postal address
• Signature of applicant
• Signature of employer
• Mode of remittance
• If the advance is taken for housing loan repayment or construction of a flat, in that case, the employee has to mention the recipient’s name on whose name the cheque has to be drawn in addition to the complete address of the recipient
• Savings Bank account number
• Bank’s name
• Branch name and complete address
• IFSC code
• Copy of a cancelled cheque
• If the advance is taken for wedding expenses, the employee has to mention the details of his/her daughter/sister/son/brother who is getting married including their age, wedding date, and address (if the advanced applied for is not meant for marriage purposes, an employee need not fill in any details in the section)
• Signature of the employer
• Signature of the applicant
• Details related to advanced stamped received
• Signing official’s designation (along with establishment’s stamp)

Details to be filled by employer

• Certification by the Employer
• Signature, date, and designation (along with the stamp of the establishment)
• Enclosures

Details which need to be filled in by the EPF Commissioner

• Section
• Account number
• Fund to reimbursed
• Mode of Remittance
• Signature of the Accounts Officer

The process to download EPF Form 31

For downloading EPF Form 31, you need to take the following steps-

• Firstly, you need to visit the EPFO portal and log in using your UAN and Password by clicking here.
• After that, the member needs to go to the ‘Online Services’ tab and select ‘Claim’ for generating an online request.
• Once you click on the claim, a new page will appear with all the details of the member such as name, date of birth, father’s name, PAN, Aadhaar number, date of joining the company, and mobile number.
• Click on ‘Proceed for Online Claim’ after checking all the above-mentioned information.
• After that select, the option ‘PF Advance (Form 31)’from the drop-down menu.
• Now, you need to select the purpose for which you are taking the advance and enter the amount and current address.
• Sign the disclosure that appears; put the tick on the check-box named ‘Get Aadhaar OTP’.
• Enter the OTP and click on ‘Validate OTP and Submit Claim Form’.
  

Declaration in EPF Withdrawal Form 31

EPF Withdrawal Form 31 is used to make a declaration for partial withdrawal of your EPF corpus. It must be noted that partial withdrawal from EPF is allowed only under certain specific conditions such as purchase or construction of a home, repayment of loans, medical emergencies, the wedding of self/sibling/child, or education. However, certain eligibility conditions must be met to be eligible for the application of such withdrawals using this form.

This form serves as a proof of the fulfilment of the purpose of withdrawal and must be filled and signed by the employee. Certain sections of Form 31 need to be filled by the employer and the EPF commissioner besides the employee. Make sure the information provided in the form is up to date and is true. 

Documents required along with EPF form 31

Purpose of EPF Withdrawal

Eligibility conditions for the purchase or repair, construction of house including the site acquisition:

• 5 years of complete service is mandatory
• Withdrawal of 24 months’ pay (Basic + DA) is allowed for purchasing the plot
• Withdrawal of 36 months’ pay (Basic + DA) for purchasing the house/flat/construction or total cost, which is lower
• Withdrawal is allowed only once during the service period

Eligibility conditions for the loan repayments under the special cases

• 10 years of minimum service period is required
• A member can withdraw at least 36 months’ pay or a total of employee’s and employer’s share plus interest or total outstanding principal with interest, whichever is lesser.
• Certification from the lending agency indicating the principal and interest amount is required

Eligibility Conditions for the Grant of Advances under the special cases

• In case of the establishment’s closure is for more than 15 days and the employees are unemployed without compensation
• If the employees have not received pay for more than 2 months continuously 
• Discharge/dismissal/retrenchment of member challenged by him/her in Court, (50% of EPF withdrawal is allowed in that case) or
• In case of establishment’s closure for more than 6 months and employees continue to be unemployed without compensation

Eligibility conditions for the Advance in case you are ill or any other member in your family

• Withdrawal of up to 6 months’ pay or employees share plus interest, whichever is lesser
• No service limit is required for availing the advances
• Certification by the employer and a doctor is mandatory

Eligibility conditions for the Advance for the marriage of self/daughter/son/brother/sister or post matriculation education of son/daughter

• Withdrawal is allowed only after 7 years of contribution in the PF account
  
• The member can withdraw a maximum of 50% of the employee’s share plus interest
• Withdrawal allowed for this purpose is three times during the service period

Eligibility conditions for the Advance to physically handicapped members for purchasing equipment for minimizing hardship

• Lowest of the 6 months’ pay or employees share plus interest or cost of equipment of withdrawal is allowed
• Second withdrawal is allowed after 3 years of first withdrawal

Eligibility conditions for the Withdrawal within one year before retirement

• Withdrawal is allowed only after you have completed 54 years of age and within 1 year of retirement, whichever is later.
• You can withdraw a maximum of up to 90% of the amount from your EPF account.

Check Form 31 Claim Status

Here is how you can check Form 31 claim status-

• Visit the EPFO website
• Select the option ‘Click here for Knowing your Claim Status’
• The page will show you a dropdown list from where you need to select the location of your PF office
• The next page will display your region code and your office code
• Enter the Establishment code
• Now, you will be asked to enter your 7-digit account number

‘Submit’ the form and you will be able to see the status of your application on the next page

Points to remember while filling EPF Form 31

• You need to attach the cancelled cheque along with the form for verification in case you want the disbursal of funds in your bank account.
• You can use the money order as the payout option only when the amount is less than Rs. 2,000.
• If you are applying it offline, certification by the employer is necessary.
• If the member has linked his bank account, Aadhaar, and PAN with his UAN, only then the application can be filed
• The bank account needs to be verified by entering the last four digits of the bank account if you have filed the claim online.