Plain language
VerifiedThe words this system uses, and what they cost you.
Every entry says what the word means and why it matters to you. The second part is the one official glossaries leave out.
UAN
यूएएन
A twelve-digit number that belongs to you, not to a job. It stays the same across every employer you ever have.
Why it matters to you
If a new employer gives you a second one, your service splits in two and your pension eligibility is counted separately in each. That is the most expensive clerical error in the scheme.
Establishment code
प्रतिष्ठान कोड
The code identifying your employer to EPFO. It is on your payslip, and its first letters name the office holding your file.
Why it matters to you
Every grievance, RTI and office visit needs it. Once you leave and lose access to payslips it becomes genuinely hard to obtain.
ECR
ईसीआर
The monthly return an employer files listing everyone's wages and contributions. Your passbook is built from it.
Why it matters to you
A deduction on your payslip only reaches the fund when the ECR is filed. If your employer skips it, the money left your salary and did not arrive, and nothing tells you.
EPS
ईपीएस
The pension half of the scheme. Most of your employer's contribution goes here rather than into your withdrawable fund.
Why it matters to you
It needs ten years of qualifying service to pay a monthly pension for life. Under ten years, you can only withdraw it once and the entitlement ends.
Wage ceiling
वेतन सीमा
The pension contribution is calculated on wages up to ₹15,000, whatever you actually earn.
Why it matters to you
It is why the pension column in your passbook stops growing once your salary passes that figure, and why a large salary does not produce a large pension.
Qualifying service
पात्र सेवा
The total months counted toward a pension. It need not be continuous, and service from earlier employers counts once transferred.
Why it matters to you
Ten years is the line. Withdrawing rather than transferring resets it to zero, which is the single most common way people lose a pension without knowing.
KYC
केवाईसी
Linking your Aadhaar, PAN and bank account to your UAN, and having your employer approve each one.
Why it matters to you
It is a two-party action. Most members complete their half and assume it is done — the approval sits unactioned in the employer's login, and every claim fails the same check.
Digital signature
डिजिटल हस्ताक्षर
The certificate an employer's authorised signatory uses to approve things in their EPFO login.
Why it matters to you
When a signatory leaves and the certificate is not re-registered, every pending approval in that company freezes at once. Members read it as a personal problem; it is an outage nobody announced.
Date of exit
निकास तिथि
The date your employment ended, recorded in the monthly filing by your employer.
Why it matters to you
Without it you are shown as still employed and no final settlement can be paid. Two months after your last contribution you can record it yourself.
Joint Declaration
संयुक्त घोषणा
The document correcting a name, date of birth or relation name held against your UAN. Signed by you and countersigned by your employer.
Why it matters to you
One signed only by you will not be processed. This is the step that stalls, and it stalls hardest after you have left the company.
Deficiency memo
कमी ज्ञापन
A note issued when a desk finds something missing, sending your file back a step.
Why it matters to you
Each one restarts the twenty-day settlement count. It is how a claim sits for months without the service commitment ever being formally breached.
Note sheet
नोट शीट
The running record inside your file where each officer writes what they decided and why.
Why it matters to you
It contains the real reason your claim failed. You are never shown it, and an RTI is the only route that compels its release.
CPIO
सीपीआईओ
The officer in each EPFO office legally responsible for answering RTI applications.
Why it matters to you
They must reply within thirty days. If they do not, that silence is itself a refusal you can appeal, and a penalty can fall on them personally.
Deemed refusal
मानी गई अस्वीकृति
When an RTI goes unanswered past thirty days, the law treats the silence as a refusal.
Why it matters to you
You do not have to keep waiting or ask again. The silence itself is the ground for your appeal, and the clock on a penalty has already started.
EPFiGMS
ईपीएफआईजीएमएस
EPFO's own online grievance system.
Why it matters to you
It has no enforceable deadline and can be closed with a reply that resolves nothing. File it anyway — the dated reference number is what every later step relies on.
TDS
टीडीएस
Tax taken out of your withdrawal before it reaches your account.
Why it matters to you
Under five years of service it applies. With an unverified PAN it is charged at double the normal rate, and recovering it means waiting for a tax refund a year later.
Form 15G / 15H
फॉर्म 15G / 15H
A declaration that your total income is below the taxable limit, so no tax should be deducted. 15H is the version for senior citizens.
Why it matters to you
It stops the deduction at source. Only file it if it is true — a wrong declaration is an offence and the tax is recovered later anyway.
Scheme certificate
योजना प्रमाणपत्र
A certificate preserving your pension service instead of cashing it out when you leave.
Why it matters to you
If you expect to work in covered employment again, it keeps your months on record so they add to your next spell rather than starting from nothing.
Nomination
नामांकन
Naming who receives your fund and pension if you die.
Why it matters to you
Without one your family must establish their claim through succession — months of delay and court costs, at the point the money is needed most.
Transfer
स्थानांतरण
Moving an old employer's balance and service into your current account.
Why it matters to you
Do it before any withdrawal. A settlement computed on one account cannot be reopened later to count the other.
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