UAN Activation and KYC

Every employee covered by the Employees' Provident Fund gets a UAN, and it is the single key to your PF record for your whole working life. Because the number does not change when you switch employers, activating it once and keeping your KYC current is what turns a scattered set of PF accounts into one portable retirement balance you can see and manage online. This page explains what the UAN is, the exact steps to activate it on the EPFO member portal, what KYC adds, and how the UAN carries your money forward when you change jobs. It also shows the current EPF interest rate with an illustrative figure and cites the governing provision.

What the UAN is

The UAN, or Universal Account Number, is a 12-digit number allotted to a member of the Employees' Provident Fund. It stays with you across jobs and links all your PF accounts, so instead of separate, disconnected accounts at each employer you have one identity that ties every account together. Each time you join a new EPF-covered establishment, the employer creates a Member ID (the PF account number) for you under the same UAN. The UAN is what lets you see all of those Member IDs in one place, view a consolidated passbook, and move balances between accounts. In short, the Member ID belongs to a job; the UAN belongs to you.

How to activate your UAN on the EPFO member portal

UAN activation is done on the EPFO Member e-Sewa portal (the Member Portal) at epfindia.gov.in. The steps are: 1) Open the EPFO Member e-Sewa portal and choose the Activate UAN option. 2) Enter your UAN or your Member ID together with your registered mobile number (the mobile the employer recorded for you). 3) Request the OTP; EPFO sends a one-time password to that registered mobile. 4) Enter the OTP to verify. 5) Set your password to complete activation. After activation you log in with your UAN as the user name and this password. If your mobile number is not the one on record, the OTP will not reach you, so the registered mobile must be correct before you begin. For HR and payroll teams, this is the practical action point: make sure the correct Member ID and a live registered mobile number are on file for each employee so activation and OTP delivery work the first time.

Completing KYC after activation

Once your UAN is active, the next step is KYC, which means seeding and verifying your identity and bank details inside the member portal. Completing KYC is what unlocks the online services attached to the UAN, such as viewing the full passbook, filing transfer claims, and processing withdrawals and advances smoothly, because these actions rely on verified member details. Keep this information current whenever it changes. Note: this source does not enumerate the exact KYC documents and the seeding or verification steps, so confirm the current KYC requirements and process directly on the EPFO portal.

Why the UAN matters when you change jobs

Because the UAN does not change when you switch employers, it is the mechanism that makes your PF balance portable. On changing jobs you file an online transfer claim through the member portal, and the balance moves from the old employer's account to the new employer's account under the same UAN. This is the account portability that the Code on Social Security, 2020 recognises: Chapter III (Employees' Provident Fund) provides at section 22 for the transfer of accounts, and the UAN and the online transfer claim are how that transfer is carried out in practice. An active UAN with complete KYC is what makes the online transfer claim possible, which is why activation matters even if you are not withdrawing money yet.

What an active UAN lets you access

With an activated UAN you can view your consolidated EPF passbook and track contributions and interest across accounts. You can file the online transfer claim described above when you move jobs. You can also access withdrawals and advances: the full EPF balance can be withdrawn on retirement (age 58) or after a continuous period of unemployment as prescribed, and partial advances are allowed for specified purposes such as house purchase or construction, medical treatment, marriage, or education, each subject to eligibility conditions and limits. All of these run through the same UAN login, which is why a single, correctly activated account is worth setting up early in your career.

What flows into the UAN: contributions and interest

The balance you see under your UAN is built from statutory contributions plus interest. The employee contributes 12% of wages and the employer contributes 12% of wages; of the employer's 12%, 8.33% goes to the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) on the pensionable wage ceiling and the balance goes to EPF, along with the employer's administrative charges and EDLI. The EPF/EPS wage ceiling has been Rs 15,000 per month since September 2014. On the accumulated EPF balance, EPFO credits interest at a rate declared each year by the Central Board of Trustees and notified after government approval; the rate for FY 2025-26 is 8.25%, and it is applied on the monthly running balance rather than on a single year-end figure. Recent declared rates for context: FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25 were each 8.25%, FY 2022-23 was 8.15%, and FY 2021-22 was 8.10%.

Governing provision

The Employees' Provident Fund sits in Chapter III of the Code on Social Security, 2020. Section 15 (Schemes) empowers the framing of the EPF Scheme under which accounts, contributions, and the member portal operate, section 17 (Contribution in respect of employees and contractors) covers contributions, and section 22 (Transfer of accounts) provides the statutory basis for moving a balance between accounts, which the UAN and the online transfer claim carry out. The UAN itself, the Member e-Sewa portal, KYC, and the annual interest rate are administered by EPFO under this framework; always verify the current portal steps and figures at epfindia.gov.in.

Illustrative example: contributions and interest under one UAN

Illustrative example. Take an employee with EPF wages at the ceiling of Rs 15,000 per month. Employee contribution: 12% of Rs 15,000 = Rs 1,800, all to EPF. Employer contribution: 12% of Rs 15,000 = Rs 1,800, of which 8.33% of Rs 15,000 = about Rs 1,250 goes to the EPS and the balance of about Rs 550 goes to EPF. So the EPF account receives about Rs 1,800 + Rs 550 = Rs 2,350 each month (before the employer's administrative charges and EDLI), while the EPS receives about Rs 1,250. Over 12 months that is roughly Rs 28,200 of EPF contributions credited under the single UAN. On the balance, EPFO's declared rate for FY 2025-26 is 8.25%, credited on the monthly running balance. As a clean rate illustration only: a balance of Rs 1,00,000 that stayed in the account for a full year at 8.25% would earn Rs 8,250 in interest. Because contributions build up month by month, first-year interest on new contributions is lower than 8.25% of the year-end total. Figures are illustrative and rounded; verify the current ceiling and rate at epfindia.gov.in.

Key points

• The UAN is a 12-digit number that stays with the member across jobs and links all EPF accounts under one login.
• UAN activation happens on the EPFO Member e-Sewa portal (Member Portal) using the UAN or Member ID and the registered mobile number, verified by OTP.
• EPF contribution is 12% of wages from the employee and 12% from the employer, of which 8.33% goes to the Employees' Pension Scheme on the wage ceiling and the balance to EPF; the EPF/EPS wage ceiling has been Rs 15,000 per month since September 2014.
• The EPFO interest rate for FY 2025-26 is 8.25%, declared each year by the Central Board of Trustees; it is credited on the monthly running balance.
• On changing jobs, an active UAN lets you file an online transfer claim through the member portal so the balance moves to the new employer's account, which is the account portability recognised under section 22 (Transfer of accounts) of the Code on Social Security, 2020.

Common questions

Verify the current figure

• The EPF/EPS wage ceiling has been Rs 15,000 per month since September 2014; proposals to raise it to Rs 21,000 or Rs 25,000 have been discussed but may not be notified: verify current figure at epfindia.gov.in.
• The EPF interest rate is declared each year by the Central Board of Trustees and notified after government approval; the FY 2025-26 rate is 8.25%: verify current figure at epfindia.gov.in.
• The exact KYC documents and the seeding or verification steps in the Member e-Sewa portal are not specified in this source: verify the current KYC requirements and portal steps at epfindia.gov.in.
• The precise UAN activation screen labels and flow on the EPFO Member e-Sewa portal can change: verify the current steps at epfindia.gov.in.