Facts to know about earning EPF account interest without any contribution

An employee who is unable to join the EPFO must speak with the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner at the closest Provident Fund (PF) Office. This retirement fund authority regulates the employee’s membership independently for each establishment where he or she is employed. 

Separate EPF accounts or member IDs will be used to track the membership. 

1) A person is not eligible to join the PF if they are working at business premises without being paid. Membership is only permitted in cases where the employee receives payment from the business. 

2) A member of the EPF is unable to cancel their membership while they are still working. 

(3) There is no time limit on membership. One can maintain their membership even after leaving the establishment. 

4) If a member’s PF account does not have a contribution for three years in a row, the account will not continue to collect interest after the third year. 

5) Membership will be maintained if an establishment is closed, locked out, or has a strike. There will, however, be no contribution recovery. 

A member pays into his EPF 12% of his basic salary, and the employer contributes the same amount. The employer pays the contributions up front. 

According to claims made on the website, EPFO is one of the largest social security organizations in the world in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions it handles. It currently maintains 24.77 crore accounts for its members (Annual Report 2019–20). 

The amount paid by the employer will be shown on the Provident Fund (PF) statement of Account/Member Passbook each year. You can see the times the employer was in default by glancing at the Passbook. 

If the member has activated his or her UAN (Universal Account Number), the e-passbook can be used each month to check if contributions have been paid or not.