Unable to get EPF advance for COVID-19? These could be the reasons

Retirement body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has allowed its members to withdraw up to 75% of their EPF balance or three months' basic and DA (whichever is lower), as a non-refundable advance to deal with financial difficulties
arising out of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. EPFO has already specific rules and processes to obtain this advance. 

According to a recent communication from the retirement body, EPFO has processed nearly 1.37 lakh claims under its "Pandemic advance facility" and has disbursed about Rs 280 crore. EPFO members who are fully KYC compliant can apply for this advance online. EPFO is processing these claims within 72 working hours.

However, several members are not able to avail of this advance. This could be due to issues related to KYC and other details. Here are possible reasons for which you may not be able to avail Covid-19 pandemic advance online.

Incomplete KYC for EPF account

Worth mentioning here is that EPF advance claim can be filed online only if your UAN is validated with Aadhaar and KYC details like bank account, address, mobile number are seeded in UAN. If not done, then you need to complete your KYC details by submitting the above information in the member's portal. 

Mismatch in Aadhaar details and EPF account

If there is a mismatch in your basic details like name, date of birth and gender as mentioned in your UAN and Aadhaar, you can not link your Aadhaar with your UAN through the eKYC portal. So before linking, please ensure basic details are same in both UAN and Aadhaar.

Mismatch in date of birth

In case the date of birth mentioned in your EPF account does not match with your KYC document, you need to submit an online request through your employer. Recently, EPFO had relaxed date of birth correction criteria to ease KYC compliance enabling submission of the claim online. Hence, EPFO would accept the date of birth recorded in the Aadhaar card of a subscriber as a valid proof for rectification of the date of birth in PF account.