The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has issued new guidelines under which subscribers and employers can jointly apply for a higher pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).
The deadline for submitting an application for a higher pension has been extended to May 3 from March 3.
Employees who were in service prior to September 1, 2014, and continued to be in service on or after September 1, 2014, but were unable to exercise the joint option under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, can do so now before the deadline.
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How to apply for a higher pension on the EPF portal:
– Visit EPFO Unified Member portal
– Select “Pension on higher salary: Exercise of joint option on or before May 3, 2023”
– Go to the “application form for joint options” section.
-Enter your Universal Account Number (UAN), name, Date of Birth, Aadhaar number, Aadhaar-linked mobile number, and captcha code.
– Select “Get OTP”. An OTP will be sent to the Aadhaar-enabled mobile number. Enter the OTP.
– Click on sumbit
When you submit the application form, you will be given an acknowledgement number.
Eligibility criteria:
– Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) members are eligible for a pension upon retirement.
– To qualify for a higher pension, you must have been a member of the Employees’ Pension Plan (EPS) for at least 10 years and be 50 or 58 years old (depending on when you joined the EPS).
– Employees in service on September 1, 2014, who exercised their joint option and were rejected by the EPFO, are eligible for 8.33% of their higher salary’s pension contribution.
-Employees in service on September 1, 2014, who have not exercised the joint option but are contributing to EPS above the Rs.5,000 or Rs.6,500 cap, are eligible by exercising the joint option before May 3, 2023.
-Employees who retired before September 1, 2014 and exercised their joint option but were denied by the EPFO are eligible if they file a joint option and higher pension claim application.
– Employees who retired prior to September 1, 2014 and did not exercise a joint option are ineligible for 8.33% of a higher salary’s pension contribution and cannot claim.
Benefits of EPF higher pension scheme:
-If you have a larger pension, you will receive a larger monthly check when you retire.
– If you don’t have any other sources of income, this can be extremely beneficial.
– Because it is based on your years of service and average wage, your pension amount is fixed and unaffected by market fluctuations.