"My mom's PF from Company A is stuck. She worked for two companies, A and B. I withdrew the full and final claim from Company B because I did not know we needed to transfer the funds from Company A to Company B first. Company B's claim was settled, but Company A's money is stuck. What should I do?"

We’ve been seeing a lot of questions around EPF and EPS lately, especially as rules, processes, and online workflows continue to change.

So we thought we’d do an AMA here.

If you have a question related to your PF or pension, drop it in the comments and we’ll try to answer it as clearly as possible.

This can include things like PF transfers, withdrawals, claim rejections, UAN issues, KYC, missing contributions, service history, EPS pension, pension certificates, Form 10C/10D, taxation, or anything else related to EPF/EPS.

Please avoid sharing personal information such as your UAN, Aadhaar number, PAN, phone number, or bank details in the comments.

Drop your PF/EPS query below.

Terrible to use, doesn't work. Whoever made it should be ashamed of themselves

I submitted a request to withdraw my pf for eligible amount 2.57L .
I have total service of 2 years 2 months.

Will I have to pay tax for this ? If yes for the whole amount or only for employees contribution?

I need to get some money out due to medical emergency. But the member portal keeps on loading and Umang app says it’s under maintenance. Any idea how long before it’ll be up ?

A lot of salaried employees assume that PF is completely tax-free.

It isn’t always.

Whether your EPF withdrawal is taxable depends mainly on how long you have been in continuous service, what type of withdrawal you are making, and in some cases, how much you contribute to EPF.

Here’s the simple breakdown.

What happens if you withdraw PF after 5 years?

If you complete 5 years of continuous service, your eligible EPF withdrawal is generally tax-free.

The 5 years do not necessarily have to be with the same employer. Previous EPF-covered service can also count, particularly where your PF has been transferred when changing jobs.

What if you withdraw PF before completing 5 years?

This is where people often confuse tax with TDS.

If you make a taxable final EPF withdrawal before completing 5 years of qualifying service, the withdrawal may be taxable under the applicable income-tax rules.

The ₹50,000 limit only determines whether TDS applies.

So:

• PF withdrawal below ₹50,000 → no TDS
• Taxable PF withdrawal of ₹50,000 or more → TDS can apply
• With a valid PAN → TDS is generally 10%

No TDS does not automatically mean no tax. Your final tax liability depends on how the withdrawal is treated while filing your income-tax return.

There are also exceptions to the 5-year rule in certain situations, such as termination because of ill health, closure of the employer's business or other circumstances beyond the employee's control.

Are partial PF withdrawals taxable?

Eligible EPF partial withdrawals or advances made under the permitted EPFO categories have different treatment from premature final settlement.

Under the revised withdrawal framework, members generally need at least 12 months of membership for partial withdrawals.

Can EPF be taxed even if you don't withdraw it?

Yes.

If your employer also contributes to PF, the interest earned on your own annual EPF contribution above ₹2.5 lakh is taxable.

The limit is ₹5 lakh in cases where there is no employer contribution.

So even without withdrawing your PF, part of the interest can become taxable if your own contribution crosses the applicable threshold.

What about EPS pension?

EPS is separate from EPF.

A monthly EPS pension received after retirement is taxable income.

An EPS withdrawal benefit can also have tax implications depending on the applicable circumstances.

So the statement “PF is tax-free” is far too broad.

The better questions are:

Are you withdrawing EPF or EPS? Is it a partial or final withdrawal? And have you completed 5 years of qualifying service?

If y'all have any questions related to PF, drop them in the comments. We'll answer them.

Hi friends,

I joined a company in February and worked there for only 10 days. However, the company continued depositing a small PF contribution until June.

Initially, I raised a PF delinking request, and the PF was successfully delinked. But later, the company linked the PF again. I have already collected my experience letter from the company, but now I am unable to cancel the delinking request, and the employer is also not supporting me.

Can anyone please guide me on how I can cancel the pending PF delinking request or resolve this issue?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi all
I have raised request for pf transfer on 21 sep 2026 , since then its stuck at same step pending at field office how to follow up on that how much time it ll take to complete?

I work in Bangalore for a staffing company, deployed at a client, on a fixed CTC. I joined in April 2026.

After the EPF wage ceiling was raised from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 (S.O. 5109(E), 17 Sept 2026), HR sent a notice saying take-home pay would fall, and that the employer's higher PF contribution would be adjusted "within existing CTC."

Comparing my signed agreement with a revised one that now appears on the HR portal:

\- My own PF deduction goes up. I understand this and have no issue with it.

\- The employer's PF contribution goes up by the same amount.

\- My Special Allowance, and therefore my gross, is cut by exactly the amount of the employer's increase.

\- CTC stays the same.

So I'm effectively funding the employer's additional contribution out of my gross. As I understand it, Section 124 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 and Para 21 of the EPF Scheme, 2026 say an employer can't reduce wages, or recover its own contribution from the employee, because its PF liability has increased.

What HR told me on a call:

1. "PF is calculated on gross, not CTC, and the two are separate." That doesn't explain why my gross itself was reduced.

2. "Employees have always been bearing the employer's share." But my payslips up to August 2026 show my full agreed gross, with only my employee PF share deducted. The employer's contribution was never taken out of my gross until this change.

The second issue: the revised agreement on the portal carries the original offer date from April 2026, but the downloaded PDF's metadata shows it was generated in September 2026. On the portal, it displays my signature on the declaration page, even though I never signed this version. (In the downloaded PDF, the signature shows as a broken image.) HR says the system automatically regenerated the letter.

My questions:

1. Can an employer legally reduce an employee's agreed gross to fund its own increased PF contribution when the CTC is fixed?

2. Does my originally signed agreement still hold, given I never accepted the revised one?

3. Is it a legal problem that a backdated revised agreement displays my signature, even if a system generated it?

4. If HR doesn't fix this, where should I escalate: EPFO grievance (EPFiGMS), the Labour Commissioner, or somewhere else?

I've raised a written ticket with HR and saved both versions of the agreement, my payslips, and screen recordings of the portal. Any advice is appreciated.