“A sum of Rs 27,000 crore is lying as ‘unclaimed amount‘ in the EPF accounts”. That’s a huge amount!
The reasons for not claiming EPF Scheme benefits can be due to ignorance/ negligence on part of the EPF members, procedural delays by the EPFO or ‘no-claim’ made by the nominees/legal-heirs after the death of the subscribers.
As an EPF subscriber, you may be well aware of the EPF Withdrawal claim submission procedure that needs to be followed by the PF members. But, are you aware of the EPF Death Claim Procedure? God forbids, in case of an unfortunate event, will your nominee/legal-heir be able to claim EPF, EPS and EDLI Scheme benefits without any hassle? Do they know the EPF Death Claim Settlement Procedure? Let’s discuss..
If you are a salaried person and contributes to EPF Scheme, you may kindly take out your monthly pay-slip and check, you can notice that every month 12% of your “salary” is contributed towards EPF account. Your total monthly contribution is routed towards Employees’ Provident Fund.
Your employer also contributes 12% of the salary to your EPF a/c. But your employer’s monthly contribution is routed towards various components of PF.
Out of this 12% of your employer’s monthly contribution, 8.33% goes towards EPS (Employees Pension Scheme) and only 3.67% is invested in Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). So, you contribute 12% of your basic salary and your employer contributes 3.67% of your basic salary towards EPF deposits.
Your Employer also contributes for EDLI Scheme (Employees Deposit Linked Insurance) premium for maximum of 0.5% of Rs 15000 i.e. Rs 75 per month. An employee gets a life insurance cover of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh (maximum).
Let’s now understand the important points and the procedure to claim EPF, EPS & EDLI Scheme benefits on death of a Subscriber (EPF member).
Upon the death of an EPF member, the Employees Provident Fund amount is paid to the nominee that was nominated at the time of opening of the account. If there was no nominee assigned then the EPF amount is paid to the immediate members of the family (legal-heirs).
A PF Scheme member’s family becomes eligible for the monthly pension benefits in the following cases:
Who can claim EPS Family Pension? -On the death of the employee, EPS pension is payable to ;
The Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme(EDLI) is an insurance cover provided by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). A nominee or legal heir of an active member of EPFO gets a lump sum payment of up to Rs 6 Lakhs Rs 7 lakh in case of death of the member during the service period (active EPF member).
Earlier, to claim EPF, EPS and EDLI insurance amount, the nominee of a PF member had to submit multiple Claim forms to the EPFO. Form 20 for EPF Withdrawal, Form 10D to claim EPS Pension benefit and Form 5(IF) for EDLI Scheme benefit.
However, the EPFO has recently introduced a ‘Composite Claim Form’ in death cases and has also set a time-line of 7 days to process all EPF Account related Death Claims.
You can download EPF Composite Claim Form for EPF, EPS or EDLI and submit the filled form to the concerned EPFO Regional office.
You need to get the member’s last employer’s sign and seal on the composite claim form. In case, the company is closed then you (claimant) can get the claim form signed by the bank manager of your bank account.
The documents that need to be enclosed with EPF Composite Death Claim Form are;
The EPFO has recently launched an online provision to submit PF death claim forms by the member’s beneficiary.
A word of advice! – In case, you (EPF member) haven’t yet updated your EPF account nomination details then kindly do it immediately. It is very important! Also, do update/change your nominee details after you get married.
In case of death of a member, advisable to file the death claim by the beneficiary, maximum within 3 years of the date of death of the subscriber.
I hope you find this article useful and informative! Do share this information with your family members. Cheers!
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(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) (Post first published on : 26-June-2019)
This post was last modified on July 12, 2023 11:28 am
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the widow of the deceased person has got a letters of administartion from high court to claim PF /EPS/ EDLI/ gratuity
she has minor child who is 17 year old
husband used to work for multinational which has a provident fund trust.
as the LOA from is categorical that only the widow has right to claim all is it neccesary to still give details of minor daughters, her bank account and aadhar etc.?
the company where husband was working is insisting on daughters aadhar. daughter doesnt have aadhar
can the mother as a natural guardian of the child opt out of the claim in favour of her mother ?
can the child when he she turns major opt out of claim as a nominee when she turns 18 ?
My father was a EPS pensioner and now after his death, we want to claim widow pension for my mother. We have filled up the Composite Claim form for Death Cases, but it asks for Signature and verification by the employer. Is this necessary or only my mother's signature (claimant) is sufficient? Thank you!
Hi Srikanth Sir,
My name is Shiva,
My mother use works in muncipal Nagara Panchayithi died in 2014, My father also died on same day,our fate.
Pf Active member for 2 years.
Initially we have submitted Claim,file sent back reason is employer not paid 2011-2012 yearly pf amount.
At that time my sister is not married.
Now we want to submit the claim, should we apply both sis and me as dependents or only on name of mine.
And very important one, respective nagarpanchayath pf consultant saying that we are not Elgible for EDLI thing mentioning like employee should die in duty time only then only can claim edli benefit. make us to fill two claim forms Separately for each one me and my sis even after there is composite claim form. EDLI contribution will have every employee or any exception. Kindly help us Sir, we will be very thankful to you.
My husband has not linked his all old PF account to UAN number. I do not have any of the all old PF numbers and pension numbers. Need your help and guidance to claim the money. For my kids education.
Dear Author,
I have a question. After the death of member, spouse will get the pension amount. And if the nominee is also died getting pension amount for 2 to 3 year. Can legal heir can withdraw the remaining pension amount. If No, then what would happen to the remaining pension amount of 8.33% deposited in EPS for all these long period. If yes, what is the procedure.
Thanking you,
Regards
If Employee and nominee both (husband & wife) dies. Since there is only one nominee then will all amount goes to child even if child was not assign as nominee?
Hi Sir,
Please confirm how much time it will take for after document submission for death claim, pension and pf claim ?
Regards
Deepak Rajora
Hello Author,
Thanks for the detailed article. Nicely Written. Can you please confirm what happens if some of the nominees pass away. How does that distribution happen between surviving nominees?
Dear Shashi,
Ideally, an EPF member can/should change/update the nomination details then!
Related article : Nominee Vs Legal Heir : Who will inherit (or) own your Assets? | Importance of WILL
All Required Form and Document for Employee Death Claim
Hi Srikanth, How to calculate EDLI in case of death of an employee who worked less than 1 year. (9 Months)
Dear Dakshinamoorthy,
There is no minimum service period for availing EDLI benefits.
The procedure for claiming is same as given in the article..