The Employee Provident Fund or EPF scheme functions as per the rules and regulations set forth by the Government of India's Ministry of Labour and Employment. In simpler words, this fund is made up of an equal amount of contribution from a percentage of employees’ salary and the exact same amount matched by their employers.

However, if you want to withdraw a certain amount from your PF balance during an ongoing job tenure, you will need an EPF withdrawal form 31, or Form 31.

Note that as a salaried individual, 12% of your basic pay is deducted as a contribution to the EPFO. So, your employer would be submitting the same amount every month. This accumulated amount is periodically submitted to the Employee Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO, which in return offers a substantial interest to the jobholders.

As a result, this fund can function as a reliable means of post-retirement wealth management plans. This accumulated amount can only be withdrawn in its entirety under certain specific conditions:

• If you can provide necessary documents to prove that you have been unemployed for at least more than two months.
• After you have retired from your occupational duties and responsibilities.

However, government regulations allow you to withdraw portions of this fund if you can meet the terms and conditions as ascribed by the authorities. Subsequently, as a prominent means of liquidity boost that can cater to meeting immediate financial needs, the provident fund can come in handy for you.

With the usage of Form 31 in PF, eligible individuals can conduct a premature fund withdrawal in part from their EPF accounts. So, if you are thinking of downloading this form to submit an application for the same, it is ideal to know the circumstances for which such a claim is valid.

Form 31 in EPFO can only be used if you are withdrawing the money to cater to certain specific purposes. Some of these include:

• For funding your children’s education
• Marriage-related expenses of your own and certain family members
• Purchasing a land
• Buying a house
• Constructing a house
• To renovate a home
• If your employer organisation has been closed off for more than fifteen days, leaving you, unemployed without paying any compensation
• If the employer has failed to give your salary for two consecutive months

Additionally, note that you can opt to withdraw a partial amount from the EPF before retirement, given that you are over 54 years of age or are within a year of retirement. In such a scenario, you are allowed to take out up to 90% of the corpus, with the interest.

However, in order to withdraw the money for the aforementioned purposes, you must also meet certain parameters. These eligibility criteria have been discussed below:

• Education: You must have been employed for a minimum of seven years to withdraw from the provident fund to finance your children’s education. Also, only children studying in post-tenth standards come into the purview of this scheme.
• Marriage: Other than funding your own marriage, the family members whose wedding you can fund only include your siblings and children.
• House and Land Purchase: You can spend the money to buy land or home only if it is under the name of yourself, your spouse, or if you both own it jointly.
• Home Renovation: Similarly, if you want to utilise the money to renovate your home, it also has to be under you or your spouse’s name, or the two of you have to own it jointly.  Additionally, the withdrawal facility can be availed of twice: after 5 and 10 years of the house’s construction has been completed.
• Loan Repayment: If you want to pay off your debts by partial withdrawal, keep in mind that you must have taken out the credit from a financing institution. Additionally, this institution will also need to provide legitimate documentation to underline your due principal amount of the loan alongside the interest.
• Special Cases: As mentioned before, you can claim to withdraw from your PF account if you have not been compensated in a prolonged period: as long as it has not resulted from a strike.

Depending on the purpose of the withdrawal, required documents can vary on a case-to-case basis. Some of these include:

• Declaration and registration certificates when a property is concerned.
• Certificate by lending agencies regarding the payable amount and interest rate, if you are using the EPF withdrawal form for repayment measures.
• A certificate from the employer, if you apply for a grant of advance.
• Doctor’s certification when it comes to medical issues and physical challenges.
• Your own declaration, if you are withdrawing partial funds before retirement or superannuation.
• Bonafide certificates from your children’s educational institution, if you are claiming the amount for their higher studies.

A PF Form 31 download can be done without the hassle by adhering to these few simple steps as mentioned below:

Step 1: Navigate to the official portal of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation.

Step 2: Log in using your password and other crucial details such as your Universal Account Number or UAN.

Step 3: Navigate to a section with the title “Online Services”.

Step 4: Select the option “Claim”.

Step 5: As you get redirected to a new page, fill in your essential personal and professional information as required.

Step 6: Click “Proceed for Online Claim”.

Step 7: Select the option “PF Advance (Form 31)” from the drop-down menu available on your screen.

Step 8: You will have to fill in details like:

• Reason for the claim
• Required amount
• Your current place of residence

Step 9: A disclosure will be displayed. You will have to sign it.

Step 10: Click on the dialogue box shown with the words “Get Aadhaar OTP”.

Step 11: You will receive a one-time password on your registered mobile number. Enter this OTP number on the portal.

Step 12: Click “Validate OTP and Submit Claim Form”.

If your UAN number is linked with the necessary KYC documents such as Aadhaar and PAN cards, it is possible to submit the EPF withdrawal form online in a few steps:

Step 1: Log into the UAN portal.

Step 2: Verify your required KYC details.

Step 3: Navigate to “Online Service”.

Step 4: Select “Claim Form 31”.

Step 5: Enter the necessary details and complete verification.

Step 6: To continue to the next step, you will need to accept the certificate of undertaking.

Step 7: Click on “Proceed for Online Claim”.

Step 8: Select the option of PF withdrawal.

Step 9: Choose “PF Advance Form”.

Step 10: Put in the information required, such as required amount and reason for the claim.

Step 11: Click on the “Submit” button.

After the due course of authorisation, the fund will be transferred to your account after a certain timespan. During the waiting period, you can also check the status of the claim you made on the website of Employee Provident Fund Organisation.

If you feel more comfortable getting the job done offline, you can do so just by downloading the EPF Form 31 and following these steps:

Step 1: Write down the necessary details.

Step 2: Get a certificate from your employer validating your job appointment.

Step 3: Get the documents you are enclosing with the form adequately attested.

Step 4: Submit all this paperwork to your respective jurisdictional Employee Provident Fund Organisation office.

Therefore, whether you opt for the online or offline method, submitting the EPF withdrawal form 31 can be done without any hitch with proper planning beforehand. Notably, as such a withdrawal directly results in diluted retirement savings, every individual must consider his or her long-term financial goals and related economic disciplines before making a claim.