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EPF & PF

PF Transfer on a Job Change: Automatic Now, or Form 13?

When EPFO moves your old PF balance on its own, when you still file an online transfer claim (Form 13), and how to check that the money and service actually moved.

myutils.me7 min read

A person carries a jar of coins from one office to another, with the words “PF transfer: Form 13”

You changed jobs, gave the new employer your existing UAN, and the old PF balance is still sitting under the old member ID. Whether it moves on its own depends on your record. EPFO does generate transfer claims automatically in some cases: of about 1.30 crore online transfer claims it received between 1 April 2024 and January 2025, roughly 45 lakh (34.5%) were auto-generated. The rest were filed by members. So the honest answer is "sometimes automatic", and the online transfer claim, still called Form 13, is the fallback that always works.

What changed in 2025

Four changes made a self-filed transfer much faster than it used to be.

WhenChangeSource
January 2025Online transfer claims no longer have to be routed through the previous or current employer in most cases. EPFO expected about 94% of claims to go straight to it.PIB, 19 Jan 2025
March 2025Employer attestation dropped for Aadhaar-verified UANs; EPFO said only about 10% of transfer claims still needed itPIB, 17 Mar 2025
25 April 2025Revamped Form 13: once the old (source) PF office approves, the balance is credited to your current account without a second approval at the new (destination) office. The claim also splits the balance into taxable and non-taxable parts so that TDS on taxable interest can be worked out.PIB, 25 Apr 2025
September 2025Annexure K, the transfer certificate, became downloadable by members from the Member PortalPIB, 18 Sep 2025

The practical effect: if your UAN is Aadhaar-verified and your KYC is complete, a transfer you file yourself usually goes to EPFO directly, and the portal tells you if it needs an employer to attest.

Will it happen on its own?

An auto-generated transfer is most likely when all of these hold:

  • the new employer linked your existing UAN instead of creating a new one;
  • your UAN is Aadhaar-verified and your name, date of birth and gender match across both member IDs;
  • the old employer has marked your date of exit.

EPFO hasn't published a member-facing checklist for auto-transfer, so treat this as what usually needs to be in place, not a rule. The test is simple: two or three months after your new employer's first PF deposit, open the passbook for the new member ID. If the old balance appears as a transfer-in, nothing more is needed. If it doesn't, file the claim yourself.

If the new employer created a second UAN, nothing will move automatically. See Two UANs? Merging and tracing old PF accounts.

Filing the transfer claim online

Before you start, check that your bank account, Aadhaar and PAN are seeded in the UAN, and that the old employer has marked your exit date.

  1. Sign in to the EPFO Member Portal with your UAN.
  2. Open Online Services > One Member – One EPF Account (Transfer Request).
  3. Check the personal details and the current member ID that the balance will go to.
  4. Choose whether the previous or the current employer will attest, if the portal asks for one. For many Aadhaar-verified UANs this step is skipped.
  5. Pick the old member ID from the list. Only IDs under the same UAN appear here.
  6. Authenticate with the Aadhaar OTP and submit.
  7. Track it under Online Services > Track Claim Status.

Once the source office approves, the credit lands in your current account. Download the Annexure K from the portal and keep it.

A worked example

Take Priya, who left Company A on 30 June 2026 after four years and joined Company B on 1 July 2026, giving B her existing UAN. Her Company A member ID shows:

ItemAmount
Employee share with interest₹1,62,400
Employer share (EPF part) with interest₹96,800
EPF balance that moves on transfer₹2,59,200
EPS service carried forward4 years

By September, her Company B passbook still showed only July and August contributions. She filed the transfer claim, the portal did not ask for employer attestation because her UAN was Aadhaar-verified, and once Company A's PF office approved it, ₹2,59,200 appeared in the Company B passbook as a transfer-in.

Two things moved besides the money:

  • Pension service. The EPS money is not added to your EPF balance; what carries forward is the four years of pension service. EPS pension needs at least 10 years of membership, so carrying service forward matters more than the balance. EPFO's FAQ notes that a transfer of past service history is what makes a member eligible for pension-related benefits.
  • Service continuity for tax. The tax rules on PF withdrawn before five years of continuous service have long counted earlier employment whose balance was transferred into the current account. A balance left behind in an old account doesn't help that count. See is PF withdrawal before 5 years taxable?

Transfer or withdraw?

If you are out of work between jobs, the EPF Scheme, 2026 (in force since 29 June 2026) lets you take a partial withdrawal up to your Eligible Member Balance, which is the balance minus a minimum 25% that has to stay in the account, and the full balance only after 12 months without PF-covered employment. For a short gap followed by a new job, transferring usually serves you better: the balance keeps earning interest in one account, and your pension service stays intact. For how the new EPF Scheme, 2026 changes things for members, see EPF Scheme 2026: what changed.

When a transfer gets stuck

  • No exit date. Ask the old employer to mark it, or use Mark Exit in the portal if it allows you.
  • Name or date of birth mismatch between member IDs. Correct the details first; members with Aadhaar-verified UANs can make most corrections themselves.
  • Old ID not listed. It's under another UAN, or was never linked to your UAN.
  • Returned for employer attestation and the old employer has shut down. Choose the current employer to attest.

PF claim rejected: reasons and fixes covers the rejection messages one by one.

FAQ

Is PF transfer automatic when I change jobs?

Sometimes. EPFO auto-generates transfer claims in some cases, about a third of online transfer claims between April 2024 and January 2025. If the old balance isn't in your new passbook within a few months, file the online transfer claim.

Is Form 13 still used?

Yes. The online transfer claim on the Member Portal is the Form 13 process. Since April 2025 it needs approval only at the old PF office.

Does my employer need to approve the transfer?

Usually not. Since January 2025, most claims go directly to EPFO, and for Aadhaar-verified UANs employer attestation is no longer needed. The portal tells you if your claim needs one.

How long does a transfer take?

EPFO doesn't publish a fixed timeline for transfers. Track the claim on the portal; once the source office approves, the credit to the new account follows without another approval.

What is Annexure K and why should I download it?

It's the transfer certificate showing the balance and service moved from the old account. Keep it as proof, especially for future pension calculations.

Sources

Topics

  • PF Transfer
  • Form 13
  • UAN
  • Annexure K
  • EPFO Member Portal

myutils.me

Written by the team behind myutils.me, a free, independent app that brings ITR status, refunds and AIS/TIS for each PAN into one dashboard. Check anything important against the Income Tax portal before you act on it.

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