PF account transfer getting delayed? Here is one solution!!

Are you frustrated because of the delay in your EPF withdrawal or EPF transfer? Are you waiting from many months or years at times to get any kind of clarity on your EPF status?

Are you frustrated with your EPF withdrawal or transfer?

I have seen countless number of people on this blog and other forums really getting frustrated with waiting and waiting for years at times for their EPF withdrawal/transfer and they don’t get any information or update on the status. It is only when you personally visit the EPFO offices, you get some clarity, but even that does not help. So now if you are fed up with the EPFO office and it’s slow speed of work, what’s the final step you can take? In this article I will show you how you can use file an RTI application and successfully get lot of information and at times get your work done at a speed which you never imagined. Filing RTI application for EPF information has worked wonders for many people and they claim that it works brilliantly (if you do it right way). I know your eyes are shining, but let’s understand some background before you rush to find out how it works!

Some success stories of RTI solving the EPF issues

Case 1

I would like to share the success with RTI. I opted for EPF withdrawal about 4 months back, and did not receive my PF amount until I decided to file an RTI Application. And it was realy shocking to see the amount getting credited to my bank account within 3 days of receipt of application by K.R.PURAM, Bangalore EPFO. – Rohit

Case 2 

My EPF withdrawal issue was resolved with RTI. After submitting the forms, after around 3 months, the EPFO claimed that they transferred my withdrawal money to my bank account. However I didn’t receive the money in my bank account. I raised online grievances for 3 times. Each time I got the same answer saying that the money has been transferred and has not been returned back to EPFO, so it must have been deposited to my bank account and I should check my bank account. Around 6 months went in this process with no results. As a last option, I filed an RTI application and to my surprise, the money got deposited in my bank account in 5 days (with additional interest for 6 months) and also received a reply for my RTI application.If EPF grievance system does not work for you, go for RTI. – Manish

Case 3

Yep RTI does the trick most of the time , I got all my PF issues sorted out with RTI application and have all the written proofs with cheque numbers etc for all my previous transfers. They even informed my about my balances for current year and told that they are yet to prepare the PF a/c’s for my company for the current year , but here are your balances with us. It really helps. – Hitesh

What is RTI and how it applies to EPFO office?

RTI as we all know is a common man’s tool to get a speedy and clear information from any govt office. Supreme Court has clearly mentioned under article 19(1) that Right to Information is a part of Right to Speech & Expression. Now, as EPFO comes under the RTI purview, you can file an RTI application and ask anything you want about your EPF. Govt is bound to respond within 30 days to your letter with all the information you had asked. So if you are unclear about what your EPF status is or if your EPF transfer work has even started? Why did your EPF money still not credited in your bank account etc etc… You can ask all these questions and you should be getting the 100% right and clear answers within 30 days. The only point here is that you should be doing it the RIGHT way. So lets see what all you need!

Note : Before filing the RTI , a good idea would be to file a EPF grievance redressal form online

File RTI in 3 easy steps

Step 1: Buying a Postal Order of Rs 10 from Post Office

The first step is to go to Post Office and buy a Postal Order for Rs 10.  It should be in favor of Accounts Officer of the Concerned EPFO Office. Like if you are sending your EPF letter to Bangalore, the Rs. 10 postal order should be in favor of Accounts Officer, EPFO, Bangalore. The fees can also be paid by demand draft, but that would be expensive, better go for Postal order as it is commonly used for RTI.

Step 2: Drafting your RTI letter

The first step is to draft RTI letter for your EPF related queries. All you need to do is write a letter on a normal paper (better take a very high quality A4 size paper). Though there is no specific format for RTI application letter, still there are some rules of drafting it.

• The letter subject should start as ”Application Form for Seeking Information under RTI Act 2005″

• The letter should be addressed to Central Public Information Officer, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, (Provide Concerned PF office address). Refer tothis EPFO directory for exact address of PF office for your jurisdiction.

• Make sure you mention your Name, Address, Contact telephone number and your Email id along with EPF account number.

• Now, put all your queries which you want to ask regarding your EPF (putting them as bullet points is recommended)

• As a next thing, you should have a declaration - ”I do hereby declare that I am a citizen of India. I request you to ensure that the information is provided before the expiry of the 30 day period after you have received the application”

• Finally at the end of the letter, mention the proof of payment of fees as - Proof of payment of application fee: Attached Indian Postal Order for Rs. 10 /- dated  dd/mm/yyyy  favoring “Accounts Officer of EPFO” as application fee.

• And complete the letter by putting your Signature, Place and Date.

• Sign the letter and Put your Postal address

• Mention the payment details like Postal order number, issuing post office, date, cash receipt details, etc., towards the end of your application

Following is a sample RTI letter.

Download the PDF format here

Step 3 : Send the RTI letter by Registered Post or Speed Post

The final step is to send this RTI letter by Registered post only, as no courier is accepted. Please make sure you keep the acknowledgement receipt carefully for all the future communication (if any). It might be required by you.  Once you complete the 3rd step, the RTI letter should reach the concerned authority in few days and then within 30 days you should be getting the reply within 30 days (as per RTI act).

Two RTI’s application needed in case of transfer of EPF

Note that in case of EPF withdrawal case , all you need to do is file an RTI query for the concerned EPF office. But in case of Transfer of EPF, there are two EPF offices involved, they are Source and Target. For example if you got transferred from Bangalore to Delhi and applied for EPF transfer, then your source EPFO office is “Bangalore” and your Target office is “Delhi”.

You will first have to file an RTI for the Source EPFO office to find out if the transfer has happened from their side or not. It might be the case that they rejected your application and you don’t even know about it. Once you file an RTI to them, you will atleast know what is the exact status. If you get a reply that the Transfer has still not happened, then they will let you know by when it will happen or give some pointers on the situation, but in case they say that they have transferred it from their side, then it means that the issue is on Target EPF office and they might not have processed your transfer yet. In that case the next step is to file second RTI to the target EPFO office.

File an RTI application for the Target EPFO and this time, along with all the details also mention about the first RTI and the response you have got from the Source, so that you show them all the proof of what you have done. Now you should get a reply from them again within next 30 days on what is their action and what is the exact status of your EPF transfer.

Online RTI Filing (For NRI’s or lazy Resident Indians)

For those who are too busy to visit Post office and do RTI filing offline. You can use the services of www.rtination.com for filing the RTI. They will help you create the RTI letter and then you need to download it, sign it, scan it and send it back to them by courier or ordinary post. They would speed post it to the concerned officer and also enclose the fee. At the moment the fees is Rs 150.

Important Points while Filing RTI application

When you file an RTI application, there are some very important points you should remember, because incase you don’t take care of some very critical points, it would mean rejection of your application and unnecessary work again. Here are some important points:

• Do not address your RTI application to the PIO by his name, just in case he gets transferred or a new PIO is designated in his place, it will be an issue. However addressing the Officer by name has its own advantage like when it reaches his desk, by seeing his name, he might see more interest in opening it and that might mean speedy work. However in my opinion, better not put the exact name of the person.

• Before filing the RTI, see if checking the status online helps here

• The matter can be hand written, or typed. There is no compulsion of typing the content.

• Be very specific while asking the questions, don’t ask unimportant or unnecessary questions, because some states like Karanataka have limits on the number of words in the RTI application (150 incase of Karnataka)

• Check the exact fees for RTI application for the state where you are sending it. Because it can be different from states to states. Like incase of Haryana, it’s Rs 50, not Rs 10.

You can read about RTI in detail here

Can you share your experience about EPF withdrawal or EPF transfer and in case you have used RTI for resolving the issue? Are you going to use RTI to get your EPF problem solved? Please update your results once you are successful.

 @Source: www.jagoinvestor.com

Facts you must know about EPF

10 facts you don’t know about EPF Useful Information on www.jagoinvestor.com We all know what is EPF – Employee Provident Fund. A small part of your salary (12% of your basic salary) is invested in something called EPF and an equal amount is matched by your employer each month. This is what 95% people know about EPF. But there are many things in EPF which a lot of people dont know and this article is going to open some not known secrets of EPF. One should be aware about all the EPF related information. So lets take them one by one in points format. 1: You can also nominate someone for your EPF Do you know that there is also “nomination” facility in EPF. The nominee will be contacted at the time of death of the person and handed over the EPFmoney. However if nomination is not present (which you should check), it can raise to all sort of issues while claiming money. There is a form called Form 2 which has to be filled to change or update the nomination. Please contact your company finance department or directly send the form to EPFO. One very strange rule as per the Act is that you can’t nominate your brother for EPF. Not sure why! 2: One can get pension under EPF Do you know that there are two elements in EPF- one is called EPF and other is EPS. The EPF is actually for your provided fund and EPS is for your pension. The 12% contribution from your side goes to EPF, but the 12% contribution which your employer makes, out of that 8.33% actually goes in EPS (subject to maximum of Rs 541) and the rest goes into EPF. So understand it this way, a part of your  employer contribution actually makes up your pension corpus. But there are some caveats to this. One is liable for pension only if one has completed the age of 58. One is liable for pension only if he has completed 10 yrs of service (in case of more than one companies, the EPF should have been transferred, not withdrawn) The maximum Pension per month is subject to maximum of Rs 3,250 per month. Lifelong pension is available to the member and upon his death members of the family are entitled for the pension. 3: No interest is given on EPS (pension part) You must be thinking that you regularly get compound interest each year on your contribution + employer contribution. But it does not work like that. The compound interest is provided only on EPF part. The EPS part (8.33% out of 12% contribution from your employer or Rs 541 what ever is minimum) does not get any interest. At the time of withdrawal , you get both EPF and EPS. 4: You might not get 100% of your EPF money Imagine your contribution + employer contribution has been total Rs 3,50,000 till date. Out of this 3,50,000 , suppose 2,50,000 has gone in EPF , and rest 1,00,000 has gone in EPS (for pension) . Now if you quit your job in 6th year of employment and opt for withdrawal of your EPF money (EPF + EPS actually) , then do you think you will get total 3,50,000 . NO ! Thats because you always get 100% of your EPF part, but for EPS there is separate rule . There is something called Table ‘D’ , under which its mentioned how much you get at the time of exit from your job, there is a slab for each completed year and you get n times of your last drawn salary (depending on the completed year of service) subject to maximum to Rs 6,500 per month. So if your salary in this case was Rs 30,000 per month, still you will be given only 6,500 * 6.40 = Rs 41,600. Note that the table D is upto 9 yrs only, because if 10 yrs are crossed, then you are liable for pension. 5: You can invest more in EPF, its called VPF You can always invest more than 12% of your basic salary in EPF which is called VPF. In this case the excess amount will be invested in EPF and you will keep on getting the interest, but the employer is not suppose to match your contribution. He will just invest upto maximum of 12% of your basic, not more than that. 6: Withdrawing of EPF amount at job change is illegal Almost every one thinks that withdrawing of your EPF amount after a job switch is totally fine and allowed, however as per law, it’s illegal. You can only withdraw your EPF money only if you have no job at the time of withdrawing EPF and if 2 months have passed. Only transfer is allowed in case you get a new job and you switch to it. While there are no cases where EPF office tracks these things and takes up this matter, still just for your information you should know that if you got a new job and took it and then you are applying for withdrawal, its illegal as per law. However in case of EPS, if the service period is less than 10 years, you’ve option to either withdraw your corpus or get it transferred by obtaining a ‘Scheme Certificate’. Once, the service period crosses 10 years, the withdrawal option ceases. 7: One can opt out of EPF if he wants Yes!I know this might be a surprising fact for many , but if one’s basic salary per month is more than Rs 6,500, he has an option to opt out of EPF and not be part of it. In which case he will get all his salary in hand (without anything deducted every month). But the sad part is that one has to opt out ofEPF in the start of his job. If a person has been part of EPF even once in his life, then he cant opt out of it. So if you have already had EPF in your life. This option is not for you, but if you are new to job and your EPF account number still does not exist, you can tell your employer that you don’t want to be part of EPF . You will have to fill up form 11 for this. 8: Your EPF gives you some life insurance too A lot of people might not know that in case a company is not providing group life insurance cover to its employees, in that case the employee is given a small life cover through EPF. This is because there is something called Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme and your organisation has to contribute 0.5% of your monthly basic pay, capped at Rs 6,500, as premium for your life cover. However companies which already have life insurance benefits to employees as part of the company, are exempted from this EDLI scheme. The bad part of this EDLI scheme is that the life cover under this option is very low and that’s maximum amount of Rs. 60,000. While this is peanuts for most of the people in big cities. For employees in small scale industries and small cities, this amount of Rs 60,000 will still count something. 9: You can use EPF money can be withdrawn at special occasions So now you know that EPF withdrawal is not permitted if you are still working. But there are occasions when EPF withdrawal is allowed. While you cannot withdraw it fully, you can withdraw a partial amount. Following is a list of events when you can withdraw the EPF amount and the conditions you need to fulfil 1. Marriage or education of self, children or siblings - You should have completed a minimum of seven years of service. - The maximum amount you can draw is 50% of your contribution - You can avail of it three times in your working life. - You will have to submit the wedding invite or a certified copy of the fee payable. 2. Medical treatment for Self or family (spouse, children, dependent parents) - For major surgical operations or for TB, leprosy, paralysis, cancer,  mental or heart ailments - The maximum amount you can draw is 6 times your salar - You must show proof of hospitalization for one month or more with leave certificate for that period from your employer. 3. Repay a housing loan for a house in the name of self, spouse or owned jointly - You should have completed at least 10 years of service. - You are eligible to withdraw an amount that is up to 36 times your wages. 4. Alterations/repairs to an existing home for house in the name of self, spouse or jointly - You need a minimum service of five years (10 years for repairs) after the house was built/bought. - You can draw up to 12 times the wages, only once. 5. Construction or purchase of house or flat/site or plot for self or spouse or joint ownership - You should have completed at least five years of service. - The maximum amount you can avail of is 36 times your wages. To buy a site or plot, the amount is 24 times your salary. - Can be avail of it just once during the entire service. 10: You can file an RTI application for EPF issues Did you know that you can file an RTI applicable to get any kind of information regarding your EPF. You can file it if you are facing issues like no clarity about balance in your EPF, no action taken for your EPF withdrawal or transfer. To find out information about other issues on EPF, the author has done a detailed post on how to file an RTI for your EPF issue.

 @Source: www.jagoinvestor.com

Service tax in restaurants are we paying extra? Check your bill before paying!!!

 About Service Tax..... how the restaurants loot your money ... Be aware  Ramanathan Hariharan updated his status: "Surprisingly after reading about  the "Service Tax", I strongly decided to share this information to
 everyone.
 This happened at the restaurant. Let me explain.
 We had been to several restaurants recently. I observed that  "service tax" has been mis-used and charged to the customers like you and me.

 Let me give an example.
 Food and Beverage =            Rs. 1000.00

 Service  Charges @ 10% =    Rs.  100.00    (10% on the Food and beverage amount)

 Service Tax @ 4.94% =        Rs.    54.34    (4.94% on F&B + Service Charges)

 VAT @14.5%=                      Rs.  145.00

 Total =                                    Rs. 1299.34

 As per the definition - "Service Tax can be charged only for the services provided to the customer".
 Now, see what is happening here in the above said  example.
 Service Tax should be charged only on the Service Charges amount i.e Rs.100 and not on the entire amount (1000+100).
 In this example, the customer should be charged only Rs 4.94, whereas he has been charged
 Rs. 49.00 extra.Where does this money go? Only the restaurant owner and the chartered accountants who work for them know. So, I have started asking them the questions - and surprised to see the  reactions from the famous restaurants. Either they say: Sir we cannot change the format of the bill - so , we will recalculate and  tell you the revised amount. You may pay only that.> ·        Sir, you do not need to pay the Service Tax amount itself.

 I now have 3 to 4 restaurant bills, for which I have paid only the service tax - on the service charges and not on the total amount.

 Every bill must carry the TIN number and Service Tax  Number, if they charge it. So, I ask for the Service tax number if it is  not available in the receipt that they provide.

 We cannot go to any  government official and ask them to get this right - because of our  system.

 Please remember - we cannot change any political leader - but we  can change ourselves. If we change ourselves - things will change.

 Please do share this with every one of your friends and known people.

 Ask for the right tax calculation and pay only the tax which is supposed to be paid. Verify every bills and receipts that you make payment on.

@Source: Forward Email.