How to add e-nomination in EPF?

EPF or Employees’ Provident Fund scheme is one of the most popular retirement savings schemes. It allows an employee to contribute some amount to his/her EPF account and build a large corpus for retirement. The employee’s EPF account also gets contributions from the employer. The invested amount also accrues interest over time and helps in building a substantial corpus that can be used for better retirement planning. 

One of the most necessary elements in an EPF account is the EPF nomination. In the unfortunate case of the death of the EPF account holder, it is the nominee who gets the entire accumulated corpus along with other benefits. Thereby, it is necessary to add a nominee to your EPF account through EPFO e nomination.

Thankfully, there is no need to visit the EPFO office and fill a paper form in order to complete the nomination process. You can easily declare an e nomination EPFO and add a nominee through the official website of EPF India.

Steps to add EPF e nomination

Follow the below-mentioned steps to complete the process of PF e nomination:

Step 1: Visit the official website of EPFO. You can directly land on the official website by clicking on this link.

Step 2: Go to the ‘For Employees’ section under the ‘Service’ tab.

Step 3: Click on ‘Member UAN/Online Service’ and log in with your UAN and Password.

Step 4: Find the ‘Manage’ tab and select ‘E-Nomination’ under it.

Step 5: A ‘Provide Details’ tab will appear on the screen. Click on ‘Save’ to proceed further.

Step 6: Select ‘Add family Details’. You can add multiple nominees under this.

Step 7: Click on 'Nomination Details' and enter details like the number of shares to be nominated under the name of the new nominee. Save the details to proceed to the next step.

Step 8: Click on ‘E-sign’ option to generate OTP. The OTP is received on your mobile number linked with your Aadhar card. 

Step 9: Enter the OTP and submit.

Step 10: Once the OTP is verified, the new nominee will be added to your EPF account and e nomination in EPFO will be done.

Please note: The name of the last nominee mentioned in the latest e-nomination filing for the EPF account will be considered as the final nominee. This means that the earlier PF nomination will get canceled once the new nomination is added.

E-nomination filing deadline

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has notified from its Twitter handle that EPF account holders can file e-nomination even after 31st December 2021. The Twitter post reads “No deadlines have been fixed for filing e-nominations as of now.” The EPFO posted this to clarify confusion regarding the last date for filing e-nomination in the EPF account. Some media houses had earlier reported 31st December 2021 to be the deadline for e-nomination filing. This, however, has been cleared now by the EPFO.

Who can be added as a nominee to the EPF account?

As per the rules of the EPF Act, only family members who meet the definition of ‘family’ as per the act are eligible to be added as nominees in the EPF account. 

‘Family’ as defined under the EPF Act- 

• If the account holder is a male individual- his wife, children (irrespective of their marital status), dependent parents, widow of his deceased’s son, and her children can be added as nominees.
• If the account holder is a female individual- her husband, children (irrespective of their marital status), dependent parents, widow of her deceased’s son, and her children are eligible to be added as nominees.

How can Nominees do PF withdrawal?

In case of the unfortunate death of the EPF account holder, the nominee can easily withdraw the accumulated corpus from the deceased’s PF account. For that, he/she needs to submit Form G to the respective regional PF office.

The nominee or the legal heir can follow the below mentioned steps to claim PF withdrawal:

1. The nominee(s) has to submit Form 56 Public Provident Fund Scheme 1968 to the regional PF office.
2. The following documents have to be submitted along with Form 56:

• Employee’s death certificate
• Nominee’s death certificate (in case there was a different nominee earlier who has been deceased)
• Certificate of Succession 
• Updated passbook of the employee
• Letter of Indemnity
• Affidavit
• Disclaimer
• Date of birth proof of the nominee claiming the PF withdrawal

1. The claimant needs to have the Letter of Indemnity signed by two witnesses.
2. Letter of Indemnity, Affidavit, and Disclaimer should be attested by an Oaths Commissioner or a notary.
3. All the aforementioned documents should be sent to the regional PF office.

Adding e-nomination to your EPF account is extremely important. It helps you to safeguard your saved money and make sure that the nominee gets the full amount in case of your unfortunate death. With the option to file e-nomination online, you can easily add a nominee to your EPF account without any hassle.