Overview of EPF Registration

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a scheme that offers retirement benefits to all the salaried employees irrespective of working in Government or Public or Private Sector organizations. The term, “employee” includes the range starting from experienced professionals to Security Guards, Housekeeping, etc. However, an apprentice, intern, and a migrating employee are excluded from the ambit of the EPF Scheme. EPF registration is regulated and administered by the EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organization).
The companies or the entity having employee strength of twenty or more employees is required to get itself registered under the EPF scheme. However, the organizations having less than twenty employees can also voluntarily apply for the EPF Registration. Moreover, the Co-operative Societies are required to have employee strength of fifty or more for obtaining EPF Registration. It shall be noteworthy to note that the companies are required to obtain EPF registration with in one month from hiring twenty employees or it may result in a penalty.
The Employee Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, act as the governing law for the EPF Registration. As per this act, both the employer and employee are mandatorily required to contribute 12 percent of their basic wage to the respective EPF account. One of the most significant benefits of having an EPF account is that the EPF numbers remains the same even after changing jobs.

What is Employee Provident Fund?

Employees Provident Fund is a government-based scheme under the Employee Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. It acts as a retirement benefit to an employee which is provided the organization. Any company having more than twenty employee working is mandatory required to obtain EPF Registration under EPF Act.The objective behind the EPF Scheme is to mainly maintain a healthy relationship between the employer and employee. Employee-Employer bond.

What is the Employee Provident Fund Organization?

EPFO or the Employee Provident Fund Organization is the largest social security body with a huge volume of financial dealings taking place everyday. According to the Annual report of 2016-2017, it holds around 19.34 crore accounts concerning its members. Moreover, all the rules and regulations of the EPF Act are regulated and administered by the EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organization).

Benefits of EPF Registration

The following listed are the benefits of Online EPF Registration:
Risk Coverage
The most significant benefit annexed with the Provident Fund Registration is that it covers the risk of both employees, and their dependents. The term risk means the situation concerning the employee’s retirement, illness, or death.
Uniform Account
One of the major facets of a PF Account is that it is both continual and transferable. It means that the same account can easily be carried forward to any other place of employment.
EDLI Scheme
EDLI is the acronym form for the Employee Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme. All the PF account holders are eligible under this scheme. This scheme requires a 0.5% deduction in salary.
Long-Term Goals
The amount saved in the PF account helps the employee in fulfilling his or her long-term goals like marriage or higher education or any other situation that needs the urgent availability of funds, as the amount available in the PF account often comes handy during these situations.
Includes Pension
The employer is required to contribute some proportion (specifically 12% of the employee’s monthly salary) to the EPF fund together with the employee. Moreover, out of the total contribution made by the employer, 8.33 percent is transferred to the EPS (Employee Pension Scheme). This will help the employee in saving the right amount of pension for his retirement.

Who is an Employee for EPF Scheme?

The ones who are considered as an employee are listed below:
Full-time Employees,
Part-Time Employees,
Employee Working at Home,
Contract Employees,
Full-time Consultants.
However, the following listed are ones outside the ambit of an employee:
A retired employee,
An employee who is settling abroad permanently,
Apprentice,
Interns.

Who are all eligible to obtain EPF Registration?

The listed below are the entities eligible to obtain Online EPF Registration:
Any Establishment which is employing more than twenty employees during any time in the previous financial year.
Any Factory irrespective of the industry, having more than twenty employees during the previous financial year.
c) The Central Government at any time can ask an establishment to obtain compulsory EPF Registration irrespective of the employee count. The same is possible only after providing two months’ notice to that concerned establishment. Such an establishment or company is then required to get themselves registered under the EPF scheme on an immediate basis.

Who are all Exempted from the Registration under EPF Scheme?

Any company or establishment having less than twenty employees is exempted from the necessity of getting them registered under the EPF Act. Such companies, if want can still acquire registration under the EPF scheme. However, the same will then be termed as Voluntary EPF Registration.

What is the Contribution Rate prescribed for EPF Scheme?

The listed below are the Rate of Contribution for an Establishment Employing more than 20 Employees:
Employer’s Contribution Rate
The concerned Employer is required to share his part of contribution at the rate of 12 percent of the Employee’s basic salary plus DA(Dearness Allowance).
Employee’s Contribution Rate
The respective employeeis required to share his part of contribution at the rate of 12 percenthis monthly basic salary.
Rate of Contribution for establishment hiring less than 20 employees:
As per the EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organization) rules, the listed below establishments are required to contribute at the rate of 10 percent of the employee’s basic salary plus DA (Dearness Allowance):
Any establishment which is having an employee strength of less than twenty employees.
Any Sick Industrial Company as acknowledged by the BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction).
Any establishment which is having accumulated losses equivalent to its total net worth at the end of any financial year.
Any establishment dealing either in the following listed industries:
Jute
Beedi
Brick
Coir and
Guar gum Factories

Documents Required for EPF Registration

The documents required for obtaining EPF Registration are listed below:
Name of the Employer.
PAN Card details of the Employer.
Employer’s ID Proof in the form of Passport/ Driving License/ Voter ID.
Address proof of the Registered Office in the form of Sale Deed (in case it is a self-owned premise) or Rent Agreement/ Lease Deed (in case of the Rented Premises).
Utility Bills like electricity bill, Water Tax Receipt, etc., but not older than two months.
A copy of the Certificate of Registration is needed in the case where the establishment is Trust Registration/Society/LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) or Company.
A copy of the Partnership Deed, Address Proof, and ID Proof of each partner is needed in the case where the establishment is a Partnership Firm.
A cancelled cheque (bearing the pre-printed Account Holder’s Name and Account No).
Balance Sheet Details
A copy of First Sale Bill
A copy of MOA (Memorandum of Association) and AOA (Articles of Association), if the applicant is either a Public or a Private Limited Company.
Details regarding the total wages dispersed in a month.
Details of the Employees needed for the allotment of UAN (Unique Account Number):
Aadhar card
PAN card
Bank account details like the Account Number, and IFSC Code
Contact Number and Email-ID
Date of birth (DOB) as per the Aadhar Card
Designation of the concerned employee

Procedure for EPF Registration

The below-listed are the steps included in the Procedure to obtain Online EPF Registration:
An employee is required to visit online on the official EPFO portal, for the activation of UAN (Universal Account Number). Now, the said employee is required to fill all the details like the UAN (Universal Account Number), Member Id, PAN Card, Aadhar Number, etc.
After that, in the next step the employee is required to provide his or her asked details like theName, Contact Number, Address, etc.
For completing the form, the employee is required to correctly fill theCAPTCHAshown on the screen. After completing the application form, the said employee will then receive an OTP (One Time Password) on his registered mobile number with UAN.
In the last step, the employee is asked to check the box saying “I Agree” and authenticate the OTP for the UAN activation.

What is the Rate of Interest charged on the EPF Deposits?

As per the declaration made by the EPFO on 05.03.2020, the rate of interest charged on the EPF Deposits has been reduced to 8.50% from 8.65% for the financial year 2019-2020. Earlier, 8.65% was charged as the Rate of Interest on the EPF Deposits.

What is a Universal Account Number?

UAN is the abbreviated form for the Universal Account Number. It is a 12-digit number issued to every employee at the time of registration by the EPFO. Allotment of this number requires details like Name, PAN Card, Father’s Name, Aadhaar number, Date of Birth (DOB), etc. Moreover, one of the most significant benefits of UAN is that it provides autonomy regarding the EPF account in the hands of employees and automatically reduces the role of the employer. Same UAN can be used by the employee throughout his service period, irrespective of job change.

How much Penalty is prescribed for the Employer’s Delay?

S.No
Period of Delay
Rate of PenaltyImposed (p.a.)
1.
Upto 2 months
5 percent
2.
2 to 4 months
10 percent
3.
4 to 6 months
15 percent
4.
Beyond 6 months
25 percent

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