Once the establishment is registered under Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), it has to pay monthly contributions and file monthly return in Form ECR. Employer has to calculate the PF for the employees drawing wage of Rs. 15,000/- or below in a month and it is optional to opt PF for employees drawing a wage more than Rs. 15,000/-.

The employer has to deduct 12% of basic salary + DA of employee and employer also pay an equal amount to PF department. The employer also needs to pay 0.5% of basic salary+DA of employee to Employee Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme and apart from it, he also has to pay an administration charges of 0.5% of basic salary+DA of employee to the PF department. Out of 12% contribution of employer portion, 8.33% will be paid towards pension scheme and rest 3.67% paid towards Provident Fund.

It is a first return of ownership after application for EPF Code Number. Every establishment has to file this return once they obtain their EPF Code Number. This form contains the following details:

1. Name of the Establishment
2. Code Number of the Establishment under EPF Scheme
3. Postal address of the establishment and its branches
4. Industry or business in which it is engaged
5. Date of Commencement of Business
6. Date of closure by previous owners
7. Whether run by owner or lessee
8. Particulars of owners
9. In case of lease, particulars of lease
10. If registered under Factories Act, particulars of Manager
11. Particulars of persons mentioned above who are in charge and responsible for conduct of business
12. Details of the establishment’s Bank Account number

Specimen Signature Card

It has to be submitted with all documents after the Code number is allotted through the online application. It has to be submitted separately for each Authorized Officer, if more than one. However, it is not required to be submitted if the employer after allotment of code number has uploaded digital signatures of the Authorized signatories. In such case the letter generated from the portal after uploading the digital signature(s) to be submitted. In case of upload of digital signature, when specimen signature card is not applicable, strike this, but keep as enclosure to the form 5A.

ECR stands for Electronic Challan cum Return. This is an electronic monthly return to be uploaded by the employers through the Employer e-Sewa portal. The return will have the member wise details of the wages and contributions including basic details for the new and existing members. The approval of uploaded ECR will result in generation of a Challan using which the employer has to remit the dues through online payment.

Thus each ECR will be linked with a remitted challan and the ECRs uploaded but not remitted will lapse after 15 days of the generation of the challan. The upload of ECR each month will relieve the employers from filing any paper return and also the various monthly and annual returns. The upload of ECR that are backed with remitted challan in the EPFO Application will result in the updating of member balances on a monthly basis.

The ECR was launched in April 2012 making the online filing of the returns mandatory for the employers. The said version of the ECR was with 25 data fields and it attempted the consolidation of the monthly returns in Form 5/10/12A and the annual returns in Form 3A. With the launch of the UAN based member identification and its becoming stable the services directly to the members started becoming possible as the linking of KYC started.

Filing of EPF Return is one of the important aspect of your business. CompaniesHouse has been having combined experience in this domain for over 20 years now and has served several clients in PAN India. Our team comprises of certified, professional EPF consultants who provide the best services in the industry. Our EPF consultants and professionals are updated with the changing market scenarios and are skilled to work on emerging tools and technologies. By outsourcing your requirements to us, you can save about 50% of your costs and concentrate more on your core competencies.

We are incredibly passionate about the quality of our service, and we are incredibly proud of our customer feedback, as shown by our excellent reviews and ratings. Time and time again, we are selected for the value and expertise that our team is known for. We have helped shape the industry by providing innovative business services and bundled packages that have evolved alongside the needs of our customers.

Our clients have access to free support from an expert team. We are always on standby to help. If you need assistance at any point before, during, and after the registration of your company, you will be able to reach us by telephone or email.

If you have any kind of EPF Return filing requirements, feel free to write to us or talk to one of our representatives and we will get back to you within 24 hours.