Rehired Employee's PF Dilemma: Can We Use the Old Account or Start Fresh?

One of my company employees resigned from his job last year and withdrew his PF claims and Pension Scheme certificates. He recently rejoined my company, and once again, I have to deduct his PF contribution up to 6500/- from his salary.

Question on PF Account Management

My question is: Is it mandatory to open a new PF account, or can we make contributions towards his old PF account number?

Thanks and Regards,
S. Balamurugan

Based on the information provided by you, it appears that you are liable to deduct PF contributions and remit the amount by creating a new account in the name of the employee. The employee has withdrawn his dues under the old account, rendering it inactive. Since the employee has been a member of PF, you cannot exclude him under Para 26 by obtaining Form 11. Therefore, it is advisable that you remit the contribution by creating a new account in the name of the employee.

Hope that helps.

I would suggest opening a new account for him. Please let me know if you have any strong reason to continue his previous account. We can look at it from that perspective.

Regards,
Nanda
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Create a new account. The same case happened in my company too. We transferred his PF via Form No. 13 in the same establishment.

It is mandatory to open a new account because the member has already withdrawn his PF/FPF amount, and now his account is inactive.

However, based on the information provided, it appears that you are not liable to deduct PF contributions because the employee's salary is more than 6500, and the employee has already withdrawn his PF/FPF amount. The employee has withdrawn his dues under the old account, and hence he is not a member of the fund.

Once a member withdraws their PF/FPF amount, they are no longer a member of the EPF. If the member rejoins, they are treated as a new member. If their salary is above 6500, they become an excluded employee.

That is a good question, but unfortunately, the law states that you will have to deduct the amount. If you see Option (e) in the attached Form 11—which is obtained from the excluded employee—it says, "I have never been a member of the Fund." Legally speaking, your employee does not fall within the category of an excluded employee.

However, on a practical note, it seems that there is no way the PF department can obtain the information on whether he has held a PF Account before. Therefore, if you obtain Form 11 from the employee declaring that he has never been a member (Pt e), then you may proceed to exclude the employee as you fit within the legal framework. I advise you to consult the regional Provident Fund Inspector before you follow this practice if you wish to have more certainty and confidence.

Hope that helps.

Though he has withdrawn his PF and pension from his account, his account has been inactivated. Now, you have to start a new account for that employee, but don't delay. Please do it as soon as possible.

Regards,
ARAVINDAN
HR Executive
AVT

Please go with option "c". Why worry? The member has already withdrawn his PF/FPF amount, so he is no longer a member of the fund as per the act. Now that he has rejoined, he is treated as a new employee under the act.

Please go with option "c." Why worry? The member has already withdrawn his PF/FPF amount, so he is no longer a member of the fund as per the act. Now that he has rejoined, he should be treated as a new employee as per the act.

Attribution: https://www.citehr.com/489149-pf-con...#ixzz2xzqURZLo

The Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952

1) A member of the Fund shall continue to be a member until he withdraws under paragraph 69.

"Excluded employee" means:
(ii) an employee whose pay at the time he is otherwise entitled to become a member of the Fund exceeds [six thousand and five hundred rupees] per month.

Dear Sir, greetings for the day. Since you stated that the employee has resigned, withdrawn his EPF accumulations, and obtained a scheme certificate from EPFO, and has now joined XYZ organization again, it indicates he has started a new job. You need to open a new EPFO account for him and ask him to transfer his EPS accumulation to the new EPF/EPS account by simply filling out Form-11 and surrendering the scheme certificate with the form.

Thanks and Regards,

Sumit Kumar Saxena

Please let me know if an employee's basic salary is more than 6500/-. Is PF compulsory in this case?

Thank you.

Best regards,
Mittal Parekh

Dear Mr. Balamurugan,

I may reiterate Mr. Bhalai's words. PF accounts are not perpetual accounts in terms of withdrawals and deposits, like we do with our savings bank account. Once the subscriber withdraws his/her name from his/her establishment's PF code, the account becomes inactive and is non-transferable as well. That means you can't transfer one account code to two employees.

Kumar Vikash
Sr. Executive Business Administration