How To Delete UAN Number

UAN is actually short for Universal Account Number, and it is issued by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation in India. It is a 12-digit unique number that can be assigned to employees to help them easily access their PF account. According to EPFO, one person can only have one UAN number and only one PF account until retirement. With UAN, an employee can easily track their PF account’s monthly deposits, and if they want they can also withdraw PF account funds using their unique universal account number or UAN.

As mentioned earlier, one person should or can have only one UAN, but there are hundreds and thousands of people in India that have two or more UANs. Which is kind of unethical, and if you also have more than one UANs, you should try to delete it as soon as possible. But the thing is, there is no specific form you can fill up and have your previous UANs deleted. It does not work that way. But for sure there are some ways you can delete your previous UAN pretty easily. And thankfully today’s post is solely dedicated to that only. So let’s begin.

Why Do People Have Two Or More UANs?

The EPFO recognized this problem and released a mandate in 2016 saying that they know that many people in India have multiple UANs, and regarding that, they brought some updates to the policy to stop this from happening. Actually, before 2016, it used to happen because of employer or employee mistakes. Or in some cases, it was a technical or system error. And that is how when employees used to switch their companies, the employers used to assign new UAN in every company. But that thing has changed quite a lot since now the KYC verification is in place, thus multiple UANs are not a problem for new employees. However, those who already hold two or more UANs, should definitely try to delete or deactivate the previous UANs ASAP.

Ways To Delete UAN Number:

As we already explained above, there is no specific way to delete or remove the previous UAN number, but you can try something else and hope it gets deleted or deactivated. Below, we have mentioned two methods to have your previous UANs deleted, so follow both steps and hopefully, you will be able to resolve this issue.

1. By Contacting EPFO Via Email

Many employees in India don’t even know that having two or more UANs is unethical, and that’s because the concept of Universal Account Number is pretty new. However, EPFO is doing its best to educate people about this whole system. But if you just got to know that you have multiple UANs, then we’d suggest you should first get in touch with the EPFO support team. You can Email them at employeefeedback@epfindia.gov.in or if you are an employer then can reach out to EPFO at employerfeedback@epfindia.gov.in.

2. By Transferring PF Account Balance

The second method is a little complex, but this way your UAN will automatically be removed. See, whenever there is no balance in your PF account, the EPFO automatically closes that account after a certain time period. And this is what you need to do, just transfer the old PF account balance to the new one, and it’ll work just fine. Once EPFO identifies that your old PF account’s balance is zero, they’ll automatically close that account, hence your old UAN will also be deactivated. Once that happens, you’ll be notified by the EPFO via SMS on your registered mobile number.