Ramesh, 26
Power-loom worker, Bhiwandi
Left his job six weeks ago, father needs surgery. Already rejected once and never told why.
Name spelled three ways · exit date never marked
₹1,84,000 stuck
See Ramesh's checkEmployees' Provident Fund · pre-submission check
Your PF claim will be rejected.You can know that today, not in 30 days.
Last year 1.74 crore EPF claims were rejected, roughly one in five. Some failed on a spelling, a missing date, or a box an old employer never ticked. Others failed because that withdrawal was never allowed for them, and nobody had said so. Kosh checks for both before you file.
- Free, always
- No account needed
- Works on 2G
- 13 languages
Last year
7,96,00,000EPF claims filed
1,74,00,000rejected
About one in five. For their own savings.
Source: reporting on EPFO's annual report
₹9,330 croresitting in dormant PF accounts
Around ₹30,178 per account.
The full list
Every reason an EPF claim gets rejected. Find yours.
EPFO never tells you which one applies to you. It sends one line: “discrepancy in details.” So here is every reason we check, in plain language, with a real example of what the record actually looks like, who has to fix it, and how long it takes. Most people find themselves in the first group.
01Your identity does not match across records15
The largest group, and the one you can most often fix yourself. EPFO checks every claim against Aadhaar before it pays, so any difference stops the money.
-
01
Your name in EPFO is not exactly your name in Aadhaar
One letter, one space, one missing initial. The match has to be exact.
AadhaarRAMESH KUMAR SUNDARAMEPFORAMESH KUMAR SUNDRAM -
02
Your bank account name is a short form
Banks print initials. EPFO stores the full name. They do not reconcile themselves.
EPFORAMESH KUMAR SUNDARAMBankR K SUNDARAM -
03
Your name in PAN differs again
A third spelling in a third record. This one also raises the tax deducted.
EPFORAMESH KUMAR SUNDARAMPANRAMESH K SUNDARAM -
04
Date of birth differs from Aadhaar
Often a typed year, sometimes an assumed 1 January.
Aadhaar14-07-1978EPFO14-07-1979 -
05
Gender recorded differently
Entered once by someone else, never checked since.
AadhaarFemaleEPFOMale -
06
Father's name missing or spelled differently
A Joint Declaration parameter, so it needs documents and your employer.
PANSUNDARAM PILLAIEPFO(blank) -
07
Mother's name blank
Rarely collected at joining, and now required.
RequiredMother nameEPFO(blank) -
08
Spouse's name missing
Blocks pension and every death claim, long before anyone needs it.
Marital statusMarriedSpouse name(blank) -
09
Marital status not updated after marriage
Not urgent until it is, and then it holds up a pension.
Your statusMarried 2009EPFOUnmarried -
10
Aadhaar not linked to your UAN
No link, no payment. There is no manual override.
RequiredAadhaar seededYour UANNot seeded -
11
Aadhaar linked but not verified
Linking is not verifying. The second step is the one that gets skipped.
SeededYesVerifiedNo -
12
Your UAN was never activated
Common where the employer created it and nobody told you.
UANAllottedStatusNever activated -
13
Registered mobile number is dead
Every step needs an OTP. An old number ends the journey.
On record5550000191ReachableNo -
14
Nationality field blank
Blank stops nothing until it does, usually at the last step.
RequiredIndianEPFO(blank) -
15
Your KYC was entered but never approved
You did your part. It is sitting in your employer’s queue.
Submitted14-03-2026ApprovedPending
02Your employment record is incomplete18
Almost always somebody else’s paperwork, not yours. Sixteen of these eighteen you cannot touch. This is the group that makes people angriest, and the one where we route you around the employer when they will not act.
-
16
Your last employer never marked your exit date
Without it the system reads you as still employed, so a final claim is premature.
Left on31-01-2026Employer entered(blank) -
17
Exit date is recorded but wrong
A month out is enough to fail a waiting-period check.
You left31-01-2026Record says31-03-2026 -
18
Joining date missing or different across accounts
Three accounts, three joining dates, one person.
Account 101-04-2019Account 201-06-2019 -
19
Exit date is before the joining date
An impossible record that no automated check will pass.
Joined01-06-2019Exited01-04-2019 -
20
Reason for leaving is blank
A required field the employer skipped. It is one dropdown.
RequiredReason of leavingRecord(blank) -
21
Two jobs overlap in your record
Usually a notice period nobody closed off.
Job A ends15-02-2026Job B starts01-02-2026 -
22
Months of contributions are missing
The money left your salary. It did not arrive.
Payslips show12 monthsPassbook shows9 months -
23
Contribution amounts do not match your wages
Deducted on one figure, deposited on another.
Payslip PF₹1,800Passbook PF₹1,250 -
24
Your employer has not deposited for the period you claim
A claim cannot be paid out of money that was never remitted.
Claim periodNov-JanRemittedUp to Oct -
25
Your employer has not approved your correction request
Submitted, acknowledged, and then nothing.
Raised12-02-2026Employer actionNone -
26
Your employer's digital signature has expired
An expired certificate quietly blocks every approval they owe you.
NeededActive DSCStatusExpired 2025 -
27
Your old company has shut down
There is nobody left to sign. This is why the field-office route exists.
EmployerClosed 2021AttestationField office -
28
Establishment code changed or was reallocated
Your service is under a code that no longer belongs to that employer.
Old codeDLCPM0012345NowReallocated -
29
Your employer runs an exempted trust
Your money is with a company trust, not with EPFO.
Held byCompany trustEPFO holdsService only -
30
Annexure K never arrived
The document that carries your balance across from a trust.
NeededAnnexure KReceivedNo -
31
Days without contributions were never reported
Common after an overseas posting. It shortens your recorded service.
Actual gap180 daysReported0 days -
32
A gap in your service is not certified
They will ask for a break certificate you have never heard of.
GapApr-Sep 2021CertificateNot filed -
33
Wage above the ceiling with no explanation
Until the employer clarifies it, the record looks wrong rather than high.
Ceiling₹15,000Recorded₹28,500
03You have more than one account8
Anyone who has changed jobs a few times. Most people do not know this has happened to them, and one of these quietly destroys a pension.
-
34
You have two or more UANs
Two accounts, two service histories, neither one complete.
UAN 1999100200301UAN 2999100455112 -
35
An old PF account was never transferred
Money sitting where you no longer work.
Accounts3Transferred1 -
36
A transfer request is stuck part-way
Approved at one end, never completed at the other.
Raised08-11-2025StatusIn process -
37
Previous account details differ from the current one
The transfer cannot match a record that disagrees with itself.
Old accountR K SUNDARAMNew accountRAMESH KUMAR S -
38
Your pension service was never carried across
The one nobody checks. It can turn a lifetime pension into a one-time payment.
Actual EPS service11 yearsShows as6 years -
39
One bank account is mapped to several member IDs
The system blocks it to prevent a duplicate payout.
Your accountXXXXXX4471Also mapped to2 other IDs -
40
The account is marked inoperative
Three years without a contribution and it goes quiet.
Last credit03-2022StatusInoperative -
41
This claim was already settled
The money was paid. Knowing when and where is the useful part.
You claimed₹1,84,000Settled₹1,84,000 in 2019
04Your bank details will not clear6
The fastest group to fix and one of the most common. One of them is a photograph.
-
42
Bank account not verified against your UAN
Entered is not verified. Only verified gets paid.
AccountEnteredVerifiedNo -
43
IFSC code changed after a bank merger
Your branch still exists. Its code does not.
On recordZZZZ0001234Valid nowRetired 2021 -
44
Account is closed or dormant
The payment will be attempted, fail, and return.
EPFO pays toXXXXXX4471Bank saysClosed 11-2023 -
45
A joint account is not permitted for this claim
Allowed for some claim types, not for this one.
Your accountJointThis claim needsSingle -
46
Your cheque or passbook photo is unclear, or has no printed name
An automatic rejection over a blurry photograph. Fixable in a minute.
UploadedBlurred imageNeedsPrinted name visible -
47
Your account is not NPCI-validated, so an image is required
If validation is unavailable, they ask for a picture instead.
NPCI checkUnavailableThen needsCheque image
05The form itself is wrong7
The cheapest group to get right and the one nobody warns you about. Most of these you can correct today, not in thirty days.
-
48
You filed the wrong form for what you want
Provident fund, pension and advance are three different claims. The wrong form is refused, not redirected.
You wantedPension withdrawalYou filedForm 19 -
49
Form details do not match your EPFO record
Anything typed differently from the record is a mismatch.
Form says01-04-2019Record says01-06-2019 -
50
The reason you picked is not an allowed category
Withdrawals were reorganised into three categories. The wrong one is an instant refusal.
Your reasonHospital billYou tickedHousing -
51
Required documents not uploaded, or unreadable
The claim is complete except for the part that proves it.
Needed3 documentsUploaded1 -
52
PAN not linked, so more tax is taken
Not a rejection, but it quietly costs you a large share.
With PAN10% deductedWithout PANMuch higher -
53
Form 15G or 15H not attached where it applies
If your income is below the limit, this stops the deduction.
Your incomeBelow limitForm 15GNot attached -
54
The UAN on your form does not match EPFO records
One digit, and the claim goes nowhere.
You wrote999100200311Record999100200301
06This withdrawal is not allowed for you8
EPFO calls these inadmissible and they are the larger share of all failures, bigger than the paperwork group. No document fixes them, which is why being told on day 30 is useless. For every one of these Kosh names the rule and shows you what you can do today instead.
-
55
You are still in the job
A final settlement is only for someone who has left. An advance is still open to you.
Form needsEmployment endedYour recordCurrently employed -
56
Twelve months have not passed since you left
New in 2026. Up to 75% is available now; the rest waits.
Rule needs12 months since leavingYou have4 months -
57
You asked for more than 75% of your balance
A quarter has to stay behind. We show you the exact maximum today.
Must stay in₹42,750 (25%)You asked for₹1,71,000 (all) -
58
You have under 12 months of membership
The waiting period now applies to almost every advance.
Rule needs12 months of membershipYou have7 months -
59
Your purpose is outside the three allowed categories
Essential, housing, or special circumstances. Nothing else.
Allowed3 categoriesYour purposeOutside all three -
60
You have used up the withdrawals allowed for this purpose
There is a cap, and nothing warns you that you have reached it.
Allowed this year2 withdrawalsYou have taken2, cap reached -
61
There is nothing withdrawable in the account
Admissible, and it still pays nothing. Where the money went is the real answer.
You claimed₹1,84,000Available₹0 -
62
The balance has already moved to another account
It is not lost. It is under a different member ID.
This account₹0Balance is atAnother member ID
07Your pension claim is not allowed9
Separate rules from the provident fund, separate waiting periods, separate age limits. One of these does not block your money at all; it just permanently reduces it, and nobody tells you.
-
63
Under six months of pension service, nothing is payable
Below the floor there is no withdrawal benefit at all.
Rule needs6 monthsYou have4 months -
64
Ten years or more, so a lump sum is not allowed
You have earned a pension instead. You need a Scheme Certificate.
Your service11 yearsLump sum allowedUnder 10 years only -
65
Thirty-six months have not passed since you left
The pension side has its own, much longer wait.
Rule needs36 months since leavingYou have8 months -
66
You are below the age a pension can start
Service is not the only condition. Age is the other one.
Earliest age50 yearsYour age43 years -
67
Starting before 58 permanently reduces your pension
This does not block anything. It costs you about 4% a year, for life.
Full pension at58 yearsStarting at 52About 24% less, forever -
68
You have taken another job covered by the pension scheme
A withdrawal is for someone leaving the scheme, not moving within it.
Withdrawal needsLeft the schemeYour recordNew covered job -
69
Your wage is above the pension scheme ceiling
Above the limit there may be no pension account to claim from at all.
Ceiling₹15,000 a monthYour wage₹28,500 a month -
70
Your Scheme Certificate is missing
The document that holds your pension service until you can draw it.
NeededScheme CertificateYou haveNone issued -
71
Pension contributions were never credited, though PF was
Half the deduction arrived. The pension half did not.
PF months132Pension months0
08Death and family claims8
The hardest cases, where the person who could have corrected the record is the person who died. Every one of these is knowable before the family travels to an office.
-
72
No nomination was ever filed
Then the law decides, and it excludes people families assume are included.
NominationNever filedThen decided byScheme rules -
73
Nominee shares do not add up to 100%
Filed, but arithmetic that the system will not accept.
Shares filed60% + 25%Must total100% -
74
Death certificate not submitted or linked
The one document nothing proceeds without.
NeededDeath certificateOn fileNot linked -
75
A minor nominee has no guardian declaration
A child cannot receive it. Someone has to be named to receive it for them.
Nominee age11 yearsGuardian namedNo -
76
The insurance benefit was never claimed alongside
A separate benefit, on the same death, that families are not told about.
ClaimedPension onlyAlso availableInsurance benefit -
77
Spouse and children are not on the record
Recorded years ago, never updated, and now it decides who is paid.
Family on record(blank)Actual familySpouse, 2 children -
78
More than one person claims to be the heir
This one goes to a court, and it is the longest wait in the system.
Claimants2 competingNeedsSuccession certificate -
79
Your relationship to the member is not established
You know who you are. The record does not say so.
You areSpouseRecord showsNo spouse entry
09The one nobody checks1
This runs first, not last.
-
80
You were rejected once, and the cause is still there
Nothing at EPFO clears a cause on its own. File again unchanged and it fails again, identically.
First rejectionDiscrepancy in detailsCause todayStill uncorrected
Every one of these is knowable on the day you file. Not one of them is told to you.
What the government already fixed
- Settlement in 3 days
- Up to ₹5 lakh automatic
- 98.7% of claims inside 20 days
This is a genuinely good reform.
What it could not fix
- One in five still rejected
- Same reasons as before
- The records still don't match
The fast lane only works if your record is already clean.
They made the queue faster.They didn't fix why you get thrown out of it.
How Kosh works
It reads the government's own rulebook, and runs it before you submit.
- 1
Tell us your UAN, or just say it out loud
Nothing to upload, no account, no fee. An OTP to your phone, and that's it. If reading is hard, the whole thing works by voice.
- 2
We compare your four records side by side
Aadhaar, EPFO, bank and PAN. You see exactly where they disagree. Most people have never been shown this.
- 3
You get a verdict, with the rule behind it
Will pass, or will be rejected and why. Every reason cites the actual EPFO circular, so you can check us.
- 4
Then one thing to do today
The fixes have an order. Do them wrong and you fail anyway. Kosh shows one step, with the form already filled in, and locks the rest until they're ready.
Three terms, in plain words
- UAN
- Your 12-digit PF number. It stays yours across every job. It's on your salary slip.
- KYC
- The details EPFO holds about you. If they don't match Aadhaar, the money stops.
- Joint Declaration
- The official form for fixing a name or date. Needs you and your employer. Kosh fills it in for you.
Who this is for
Three people. Three completely different problems.
Sunita, 52
Widow, Nalanda
Her husband died. No nomination was ever filed. She cannot read, and her nephew is helping her.
No nominee on record, spouse name blank, a pension she didn't know existed
Pension + insurance unclaimed
See Sunita's checkArjun, 27
Four jobs in six years
Doesn't know he has three UANs, or that money is sitting in one he forgot.
3 UANs, 2 never transferred, 1 dormant
₹47,000 he didn't know about
See Arjun's checkEvery verdict cites the circular it came from.
What EPFO sends you
Claim rejected: discrepancy in details / Others
What it actually means
Your name is spelled differently in EPFO and Aadhaar. That's the whole problem.
And the part nobody tells you: that reason is still there. File again today and it will be rejected again.
The rules are open
Every check cites a published EPFO circular, with the clause and the date we read it. Every check ships with a test. The count is whatever has a citation, and the page reads it from the bundle rather than claiming a number.
These aren't our rules, they're the government's. If EPFO publishes an official machine-readable version tomorrow, we delete ours and use theirs.
Browse the rule bundleWe never touched a live government system
Everything runs against a mock gateway we specified and built ourselves. Nothing is submitted anywhere, and no real Aadhaar or PAN exists in this project.
Read the gateway specWhat's real and what's mocked.
Real and working
- The rule engine, with a citation on every check
- Record comparison and name reconciliation
- Fix ordering and dependencies
- Filled forms, PDFs, hashes
- Statutory clock and escalation drafts
Mocked, on purpose
- OTP: it's 123456, printed on screen
- Government records: synthetic personas
- e-Sign
- Filing: nothing is ever submitted
Questions
Everything people ask us
Is this an official government website?
No. Kosh is an independent prototype with no connection to EPFO or the Government of India, and it claims no endorsement. We read the government's published rules and tell you what doesn't match in your own records. We never submit anything on your behalf.
Will you withdraw my PF money for me?
No. Only EPFO can pay out. What Kosh does is make sure your claim passes the first time, by showing you what will fail, filling in the correct form, putting the fixes in the right order, and watching the deadline.
What does it cost?
Nothing, and there is no paid tier. No agent, no commission, no fee. Your PF is your own salary, nobody should have to be paid to help you get it.
Where does my data go?
In this demo, nowhere: every persona is synthetic and no real Aadhaar or PAN exists in the project. In a real deployment the details would be discarded as soon as the check finishes, unless you explicitly ask us to track a deadline for you.
I can't read well. Can I still use it?
Yes. Every section has a listen button, and the entire main journey can be completed by voice in your own language. There's also a picture mode with almost no words, and a single-screen card you can show to a shopkeeper or a relative if you need help.
Which languages does it work in?
Thirteen: English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu, Kannada, Odia, Malayalam, Punjabi and Assamese. English is the source and is written by hand. The other twelve are machine-translated and are still waiting on native-speaker review, and every one of those pages says so at the top rather than being quietly shipped as finished.
My old company has shut down. Is my money gone?
No. Anything the employer was supposed to do can also be done through the EPFO office on a different route. The cruelty of the current system is that nobody tells you this, so people spend weeks chasing a company that no longer exists. Kosh routes you correctly straight away.
I was rejected once already. Should I just file again?
Almost certainly not, and this is the single most expensive mistake in the whole system. If the underlying reason hasn't been fixed, re-filing produces the same rejection and costs you another month. Kosh checks this before anything else.
How is this different from an agent who does it for me?
An agent charges you a cut of your own money and doesn't tell you what they did. Kosh shows you the rule, the reason, and the form. and it's free. If you'd still rather have help, print the packet and take it to a common service centre.
Why does this website look so plain? Where are the pictures?
That's deliberate. The people whose PF gets stuck most often have the cheapest phones and the slowest connections, and a heavy website excludes exactly them. So this page has no images at all. everything you see is type and lines. The whole page is under 60 KB, lighter than a single WhatsApp photo, and it works with JavaScript switched off. the only script on the page is a half-kilobyte read-aloud button that adds itself, so nothing breaks without it. Large type and generous space cost nothing; photographs cost a great deal. Restraint is a design decision here, not laziness.
How can a check like this be accurate?
Because it isn't guessing. Eligibility is decided by a rule engine where every check is written from a published EPFO circular and carries the clause reference, so you can verify any verdict yourself. An AI model translates the result into your language and reads it aloud. it never decides anything. If we can't cite a rule, we don't enforce it, and we publish the gaps.
What happens if Kosh gets it wrong?
The cost is minutes, not weeks, and you can always file the way you do today, because Kosh never blocks the existing route. We also show you exactly which checks we ran and which we had no data for, so you can see how confident the answer really is. Some of our checks are certainly imprecise; the design assumes that rather than pretending otherwise.
If you work at EPFO or a state department
1.74 crore rejections a year is 1.74 crore files opened twice.
If even one in five became right the first time, that's roughly 35 lakh fewer files re-opened a year across 135 field offices.
An estimate from public aggregates, not a measured result.
Kosh doesn't need to become another portal. It's one check before submit, and the rule bundle is open, so you can host it yourself.
Choose your language
Englishenहिन्दीhiবাংলাbnमराठीmrతెలుగుteதமிழ்taગુજરાતીguاردوurಕನ್ನಡknଓଡ଼ିଆorമലയാളംmlਪੰਜਾਬੀpaঅসমীয়াas
English is the source language and is written by hand. The other twelve languages are machine-translated and clearly marked as unchecked at the top of every page, because a wrong word about someone’s money is worse than an honest gap. Record values, names, dates and bank codes, are never translated, so what you see in the comparison is exactly what the record says.