"Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has done away with the mandatory requirement of affixing one rupee revenue stamp on claim forms thereby bringing independence from this hassle to millions of PF subscribers every year," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said.
He stated that the EPFO is further smoothening the process of PF claim settlement. Henceforth, one rupee revenue stamp will not be required for most of the claim forms as in 97 <g data-gr-id="23">per cent</g> cases of PF settlement, the payment is made through National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), he said.
The decision was taken after consultation with Ministry of Law & Justice that <g data-gr-id="24">opined</g> that as per practice, no revenue stamp is required with respect to <g data-gr-id="33">payment</g> made through NEFT. Dattatreya
added that EPFO is further simplifying its forms to ensure hassle free services to the subscribers.
Besides, there is a proposal to do away with attestation of employer in cases where the employees have got their Know Your Customer (KYC) information, including Aadhar, seeded and have activated their Universal Account Number (UAN).
This is aimed at reducing employer dependency in the transactions that an employee would undertake with EPFO. It is noted that due to over dependence on employers, EPFO subscribers are not able to avail quick and easy services of the organisation, the statement said.
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has a subscriber base of around six <g data-gr-id="29">crore</g>. It manages a huge corpus of over Rs 6.5 lakh crore with <g data-gr-id="28">an incremental annual deposits of</g>
Rs one lakh crore.