Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) is a scheme introduced by EPFO through which the employees and their employer contribute a part of their salaries towards the PF fund in order to build a corpus for retirement.
In order to contribute towards the EPF Scheme, an establishment first needs to get itself registered on the EPFO Portal which in maintained by Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India.
The EPFO Portal allows the establishment to make the PF payment online.
Steps to file monthly PF return online
In order to make the PF payment online through the EPFO Portal, the following procedure is to be followed:
- Login to EPFO Portal
Login to the EPFO portal using the credentials sent on your email Id upon successful sign up with Unified Shram Suvidha Portal.
- Download the ECR File
Navigate to Payment and click on ‘ECR/Return Filing’. Next, click on ‘ECR Upload’, go to ‘Download ECR File’, select the wage month for which you want to file PF return, select the file type as ‘ECR’ and click on ‘ECR File Download’. An ECR file containing the list of employees against their UAN will be downloaded.
- Enter wage details
Fill in the details regarding:
a) Gross wages: Gross wages are the
b) EPF wages: Basic Wages + Dearness Allowance
c) EPS wages: Basic Wages + Dearness Allowance
d) EDLI wages: Same as EPS wages
e) EPF Contribution remitted: 12% of EPF wages (or as decided by organization)
f) EPS Contribution remitted: 8.33% of EPS wages
g) EPF EPS difference remitted: Difference between (e) and (f)
h) NCP Days: Non-Contributing Period i.e. Absent days
i) Refund of Advances - Save as Text Document
Next, save the excel file as a CSV file. Make sure to delete the first column with the particulars. Now, open the CSV file and remove all the extra commas, if any. Next, replace all the commas (,) between two fields with #~# and save the file as a text document.
- Upload the ECR file
Now, login to the EPFO Portal, got to Payments> ECR Filing> ECR Upload. Select the Wage Month for which you are filing the return and other required details and upload the Text file.
- Generate TRRN and make payment
Next, verify the ECR uploaded and a Temporary Return Reference Number (TRRN) will be generated. Further, click on “Prepare Challan” and fill in the EPF and EDLI charges as applicable. Also, enter the number of employees, excluded number of employees and their salary. Now, click on “Generate Challan”> “Finalize” and make the payment by clicking on “Pay”.
Due date of PF payment and return
PF Payment: The due date for PF Payment, i.e. the date by which employees’ PF shall be deducted is on or before 15th of the next month.
PF Return: The due date of filing PF return on the EPFO portal is on or before the 15th of every month.
Penalty for late filing of return
When there is a delay in filing of PF return, the following interest/ penalty is levied:
- Interest under Section 7Q: An interest of 12% per annum, for every single day is levied on the employer if there is a delay in filing PF return.
- Penalties under Section 14B in case there is a delay in making the challan payment:
- 5% interest per annum for a delay upto 2 months
- 10% interest per annum for a delay of 2-4 months
- 15% interest per annum for a delay of 4-6 months
- 25% interest per annum for a delay of more than 6 months
Yes, an employee can contribute more than 12% towards PF contribution
Yes, an establishment can opt for voluntary PF registration even if they are not employing more than 20 employees.