EPFO defers Aadhaar seeding with UANs for Northeast till Dec 31

• Follow

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) mandate of filing PF returns with Aadhaar-verified universal account numbers (UAN) has been postponed till December 31, 2021, in all seven states in northeast India and some industries like building and construction and plantations. The deferring of the deadline by EPFO will help in buying more time for employers to link their employees’ Aadhaar numbers with PF accounts or UAN in the northeastern states and certain industries having less penetration of Aadhaar in UANs. EPFO had extended the deadline to September 1, 2021, from June 1, 2021, to link Aadhar with UAN.

The EPFO’s order circulated last week mentioned that the implementation date for filing PF return with Aadhaar verified UANs has been postponed to December 31, 2021. The deadline has been extended in the administrative zone of the Northeast region which comprises Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

The deadline was extended taking into view considerations like remote localities, areas affected due to insurgency, worksite changes. It also noted constraints in certain classes of industries like – Beedi making, building and construction, plantations industries (tea, coffee, cardamom, pepper, jute, cinchona, cashew nuts etc.)

Of the total contributing to EPF, over 94% have members’ UANs have Aadhaar seeding. The number is much less in the Northeastern region and certain classes of industries.

On June 1, EPFO had issued an order that said that ECR shall be allowed to be filed only for those members, whose Aadhaar numbers are seeded and verified with the UAN, with effect from June 1, 2021.