Forgot to apply for EPS scheme certificate. Any impact later ?

Dear Experts,

I was working for my previous employer for 15 years. I resigned from this company in 2021 and have been working with a new company since then. My previous employer has updated the date of joining and exit of EPF/EPS properly. The EPF portal also displays my service history correctly.

However, today when I tried to apply for the EPS Scheme certificate in the EPFO portal, the only option I see is PF ADVANCE. Why am I not seeing the option to apply for the scheme certificate?

Is the scheme certificate really required for pension calculation after I attain the age of 58 years? Because the UAN seems to record all service history correctly.

Any help is highly appreciated.

Hi,

You claim you are working for a new employer from 2021. So, are they deducting PF and pension contributions? Your PF/pension will remain safe in the respective accounts.

If you have transferred the PF account balance from the last organization to the present organization and your service history shows your previous organization, there is no need to get a scheme certificate. The scheme certificate was mandatory when the process of transfer of various PF services was offline.

Please ensure that you have transferred the previous PF balance to the current one. You can also check whether two accounts are available in the PF passbook and the previous account balance is zero with a transfer post at the end.

Hi,

For the update, the pension account will remain in the respective PF Account only even after the transfer. Only the PF transfer will reflect in the passbook. At the time of pension disbursement, the overall pension accumulation will be considered for pension.

Thank you so much, Madhu TK and Lakshmi Narayanan.

@Lakshmi Narayanan - Yes, sir. My current employer is deducting PF and Pension. The only thing I was worried about was that I did not bother to apply for a scheme certificate after a job change.

Hi,

The general procedure is when you apply for PF & Pension (after 15 years of service), if unemployed, after a 60-day waiting period, you will receive the PF and a Pension scheme certificate. The scheme certificate should be surrendered to the next employer at the time of joining, subject to Pension applicability. In your case, you have already joined another employer with PF/Pension deductions, so you can't withdraw both. Only partial withdrawal is possible.

Now, please check whether you have transferred the PF/Pension to your current employer's PF account. If not, please apply through the UAN login. As already clarified, only the PF will be transferred to the new employer's account, and the Pension will remain in the old employer's PF account. When you apply for a Pension with the scheme certificate after 58 years, the overall accumulated pension contribution will be considered for the pension payment order.

Hope the above is clear.

Thank you, Lakshmi Narayanan, sir. I am 48 now and don't wish to withdraw PF till 58. I have transferred PF to a new employer. Service history in the EPF portal shows both employers. No issues there. Please find attached a screenshot for your reference. As per the response from Madhu T K, sir below, it seems it's okay if I don't have a scheme certificate since EPF has captured service history properly against my UAN.

Yes, it is very clear. There is no need to get a scheme certificate. This is enough.

Hi,

Yes, you are on the right track!