PF withdrawal delays, KYC issues and inactive accounts under EPFO audit review

The EPFO Audit Division has issued a circular listing the areas that Internal Audit Parties (IAPs) will examine while reviewing the functioning of regional offices.

The audit will specifically look at issues that affect EPF members, including delays in settlement of provident fund claims, reasons for claim rejection, unreconciled credits and balances lying in inactive accounts.

The audit will also cover member profile corrections and KYC updates, including changes in name, date of birth, father/spouse details, gender, Aadhaar and bank account details.

EPFO said the audit teams will verify cases involving changes made by employers, employees or other persons to ensure the genuineness of such requests.

PF withdrawal and claim settlement checks

• High-value PF claims of ₹5 lakh or more

• Delayed credit of settled claims into bank accounts, unclaimed balances

• Offline claim settlements

• Transfer-related issues where PF amounts are not credited to members.

EPFO has also included verification of pension-related matters, including higher pension cases, pension disbursement issues and cases where pension may have been paid incorrectly.

The audit circular also refers to earlier EPFO measures aimed at making claim processing easier for members.