Confused About EPS Contributions and Claim Rejection: How Can I Resolve This Issue?

Hello! I did a lot of research on what this means and what I can do, and I am so confused now. Can someone please help? Thank you!

My Employment History

1. I joined company A in 2013. (My salary was more than 15K). Contributions were made to the EPS account. There are three columns in the passbook: Employee share, Employer share, and Pension.
2. I left company A and joined B in 2015. (My salary was more than 15K). Contributions were not made to the EPS account. There are two columns in the passbook: Employee share, Employer share.
3. I left company B in 2021 and moved out of India.

Current Situation

Now I am trying to withdraw my full PF contribution as no contributions have been made for the last 3 years, and hence no more interest is paid on the amount. Most importantly, I need the money. :)

Claim Rejection and Next Steps

My claim was rejected, saying: "Member has service prior to 01-09-2014, whereas EPS contributions were not remitted by the employer. Please clarify."

1. I reached out to company A. They asked me to file a grievance to inform EPFO that I am an EPS member. (I still don't know how this will resolve the issue)
2. I filed a grievance on the EPFO website. They responded with the below:
"Dear member, As per the concerned section remarks, contact employer and seek CLARIFICATION LETTER REGARDING EPS MEMBERSHIP AS MEMBER JOINED AFTER 01-09-2014, more than 15000 WAGES on the establishment letterhead along with Form 11 and Form 3A duly attested by him for verification. The letter must clearly mention whether the member is an EPS member or not. If the member is an EPS member, then his joining date prior to 01-09-2014 with initial wages should be mentioned, and if not an EPS member, then the request for merging the EPS fund to ER share is required. This is for your kind information."

Reason for Rejection

The reason for rejection is very clear. Company B made a mistake by remitting the entire contributions to your PF only without bifurcating it to PF and PS. Now, Company B needs to send a letter to transfer funds from PF to PS and reconcile the accounts by submitting a revised ECR. Therefore, approach Company B.

Thank you for your reply! But was I eligible for the EPS even if my salary was above 15K?

Thank you for your response! However, I would like to inquire about my eligibility for the EPS even if my salary exceeded 15K.

Since you joined the EPF prior to 1st September 2014, you are eligible for pension contributions. Whether you will receive a pension at the age of 58 will depend on the amendments in place at that time. Under the current scheme, one must have at least 10 years of service to be eligible for a pension. From 2013 to 2021, you had a membership of 8 years or less than 9 years, considering the months of joining and leaving the fund. Naturally, you are not entitled to receive a pension at this stage of service. Since you do not have 10 years of service, you can withdraw both the PF and Pension Fund. However, Pension Fund withdrawal is possible only after your Company B provides the revised ECR mentioned above. Once Company B reconciles the payment to PF and transfers the portion of the pension to the Pension Fund, you can proceed with the withdrawal.

In the past, when the system was not fully online and less complicated, an employee leaving India for permanent settlement abroad could easily withdraw their PF and Pension Fund. Now, with everything being online, the human element is absent, and we must follow all these steps. Earlier, nobody would question why you should withdraw your pension. Is it not possible that you will return, join a company, and resume contributing to PF? If so, why don't you withdraw the PF alone and collect a scheme certificate in support of your past service?

Hi Madhu, thank you for explaining in detail. I really appreciate it. I don't mind if I don't withdraw EPS as the contribution is very minimal anyway. But how do I withdraw PF alone? I had filled out Form 19 and received the response as mentioned in the post. When I log in to the Umang app, I only see two options: Form 19 or Form 10C.

Correction of PF and Pension Fund Allocation

Since the amount available in the PF includes an element/amount that should have been part of the pension fund, you need to get that amount, which was wrongly paid by company B to the PF account, instead of the Pension Fund. As already mentioned, this can only be done with the help of company B. In fact, only the employer can file a revised return and revised Form 3A, etc. Therefore, you have to take it up with company B. Since there is no financial commitment, they can do it easily. However, someone from the Personnel department should take the initiative to correct it. The amount wrongly paid to the PF account should be transferred to the pension fund. That's all. No other remedy is available.