Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) operates the Provident Fund savings option for salaried employees in the private sector as a financial protection after retirement. Though the Employees’ Provident Fund is mainly a retirement savings plan, under certain conditions advance withdrawals are allowed even before the superannuation of an employee.  

As per the normal procedure, when an EPF subscriber files a withdrawal claim, the EPFO matches the details in the claim with the details on its records and further checks if the claim satisfies the requisite conditions, before releasing the amount. In certain cases when the details are not identical to those on EPFO records, the claim request can be rejected.

If you have also submitted an EPF withdrawal claim, you must assure that you have verified multiple factors like your KYC details and also the linking of your Aadhaar number with the Universal Account Number (UAN) issued by the EPFO. However, before submitting the EPF withdrawal claim, you must consider the following factors to avoid rejection in any case.

Possible reasons for rejection of EPF withdrawal claims

Inaccurate personal details: One of the major reasons why EPFO rejects a withdrawal claim is because of inaccurate details that do not match the records available with it. Such details include the claimant’s name and date of birth.

Wrong bank details: Another possible reason for the rejection of a claim request can be incorrect or incomplete bank details like the bank account number and IFSC code. If the details are incorrect, it can lead to a delay or rejection in crediting the claim amount.

Aadhaar and UAN are not linked: For the withdrawal of the claim amount, the claimant’s Aadhaar should be verified and also linked to their UAN. Without the linking, EPFO can reject the EPF withdrawal claim.

Incomplete KYC: The claimant’s KYC details must be complete and verified for clearing the process of the EPF withdrawal claim. Without the updated KYC details, EPFO holds the right to reject the withdrawal claim. Besides that, updating KYC details is also important for other banking purposes like making a contribution to your account, transfer of account and nomination, among others.

Unclear Signature: The claimant’s signature must match with the one available in EPFO’s official records. If there is a mismatch, the processing of your claim request may get delayed or even this will lead to rejection.