Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Registration

WHAT IS EPF?

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a scheme regulated by central government under ‘The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952′ which came into effect from 1951 which extends to whole of India except Jammu & Kashmir. EPF is one of the most beneficial investment methods for salaried employee. Government has initiated EPF registration and made it compulsory with certain conditions mainly for cultivating the habits of saving for all employees working in private sector, public sector or even in government undertakings.

APPLICABILITY OF EPF

REGISTRATION under EPF is compulsory:

• For every factory engaged in industry employing 20 or more employees
• For every other establishment having 20 or more employees during previous year.
• For every employee who is getting less than INR 15000/- per month.

CONTRIBUTION

Every employee who joins any establishment which is covered under EPF scheme has to mandatorily contribute certain percentage of his salary. These contributions have to be made regularly. The Contribution made by an employee is pooled up in the form of saving or investment which is given to the employee at the time of his retirement or he switches his job.

• Rate of Contribution for establishment hiring employees 20 or above :

• • Employer’s rate of contribution: Employer has to share his contribution at the rate of 12% of Employee’s basic salary plus dearness allowance.
  • Employee’s rate of contribution: Employer has to share his contribution at the rate of 12% of Employee’s basic salary plus dearness allowance.

Not all of the employer’s share moves into the EPF fund. Out of total employer’s contribution, it is further bifurcated into 8.33% which is converted to Employees’ Pension Scheme, and remaining 3.67% is converted into EDLI account.

Example: Any employee with basic pay equal to Rs 15,000/- (which is the maximum wages allowed for EPF deduction), the diversion is Rs 1,250 each month into EPS. If the basic pay is less than Rs 15000 then 8.33% of that full amount will go into EPS. The balance that is 3.64% will be transferred to EDLI.

Rate of Contribution for establishment hiring less than 20 employees :

• As per the EPFO rules, following establishment has to contribute at the rate of 10% of basic salary plus dearness Allowance:
• Establishment with 10 or less than 10 employees.
• An establishment which has incurred losses during the end of financial year.
• Such other establishments such as:
• Brick Factory
• Jute factory
• Beedi factory
• Guar Gum Factory

WITHDRAWAL OF EPF AMOUNT

• An employee on his retirement or attaining the age of 55, an individual can withdraw the cumulative amount of EPF account in his name. He can withdraw the whole amount in his EPF account along with the employer’s contribution.
• In case the employee does not attain the age of 55 or is below 55 or retirement age but switches or change his employment can also fully withdraw his EPF balance in case he is not in employment for 60 days or more.
• Now, an employee can withdraw his EPF amount which earlier was offline and hectic procedure is now Online & Easy and fast method of EPF amount withdrawal. Following process is to be followed for withdrawing the EPF Online:
• Go to online portal https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/ and login with the help of UAN number and Password.
• The very first step after login is to verify the KYC details which are already uploaded at EPF employer portal.
• Under ‘Online Services’ tab, one can choose by clicking and selecting “Claim (Form 31, 19 & 10C)” which is under drop-down menu
• Form 31: This form is used when employee wants to withdraw partly his EPF fund.
• Form 19: This form is used when employee wants to withdraw entire of his EPF fund.
• Form 10C: This form is used when employee wilings to withdraw pension amount.
• Enter the last four digits of bank account under ‘member’s detail’ menu and click’ verify’ to verify bank details.
• Sign the certificate of undertaking.
• Submit the online application form.
• Once EPFO will scrutinize the bank details with KYC details, EPF amount request will be processed, which will be approved within 10-15 days & amount will be credited to registered and verified bank account.
• An employee can use this online facility for withdrawal of EPF fund only if his Aadhaar is linked to his UAN.
• The main motive of EPF is to cultivate the habits of saving and employee should withdraw the fund only when needed and EPF fund is his last resort.

Also, Check online epf withdrawal process

REGISTRATION PROCESS

The step-by-step registration process for EPF is as per the following:

1. EMPLOYER’S REGISTRATION

Registration under EPFO portal starts with registering an organization under Employer’s registration service. Go to EPFO official website https://epfindia.gov.in.

2. COMMON REGISTRATION

Earlier registration under EPF and ESIC was done separately which is now segregated by EPFO by creating “Common Registration Under (EPFO & ESIC)” which directly opens another tab for single common registration of EPF & ESIC.

3. COMPLETE EMPLOYER’S DETAIL

First and foremost complete the first part of application by completing the details of employer and creating the User-id and password at this step:

• Complete Details of owner such as Name, Address, Email Id etc.
• PAN of employer.
• Username has to be selected by an employer which can be used in future for login and return filing.
• Employer will get OTP PIN on its registered Mobile Number which has to be entered for verification.
• Last confirmation on E-mail has to be verified to activate the employer’s login.

4. LOGIN WITH EMPLOYER CREDENTIAL.

After completing the Employer registration and email verification go to EPFO official website https://epfindia.gov.in and login with “employer’s login” for further registration of establishment.

5. REGISTRATION OF DSC

DSC of an employer has to be registered in an EPF portal by clicking “establishment” from the options. Select DSC/E-Sign from drop-down menu and proceed with DSC registration.

6. ESTABLISHMENT REGISTRATION

Complete the registration by completing the details of establishment in an application and submit the application. After Establishment registration, login by clicking Establishment Login for further compliances.

MONTHLY COMPLIANCES

• Return has to be filled every month by following necessary step. Return is filled online by doing establishment login.
• Return has to be filled before 15^th of every month in ECR format.
• Download the ECR sheets from ECR payment option under drop-down menu of Payments.
• Complete the downloaded sheet in XML by filing the details and converting into Comma-dilemma file in TXT form for uploading the same.
• File the return by making the Contribution payment online directly on an EPFO portal.

FAQs

What is PMRPY?

Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojna is a new scheme of government to motivate and incentivize employers by paying full employer’s contribution towards EPF & EPS. This is done to motivate employers to create more and new employments.

Does common registration under EPF & ESIC mandatory?

Yes, now the registration is clubbed as a common registration which has to be done from the website of Shram Suvidha.

Which employees are covered under EPF?

Employees drawing basic wages INR.15000/- or less has to mandatorily be covered under EPF by Contributing at the rate of 12% and their return is filled every month.

Can an establishment with less than 20 employees get register themselves under EPF?

Yes, those establishments are covered under voluntary registration. They also enjoys the less rate of contribution which is 10% as compared to 12% of normal establishment with 20 or more employees.

What is the minimum pension received?

Under EPFO scheme, minimum pension is received by employee is INR 30,000/-

What is UAN?

UAN stand for Universal Account Number which is allotted to employees at the time of registering an employee under EPFO portal. This number is allotted by completing the details such as name, father’s name, aadhar number, Date of birth as per aadhar etc. This UAN can be used by an employee throughout whether he changes his service or establishment.