EPFO’S Withdraws Grace Period of 5 Days for Depositing the Dues from February . 2016
Employees Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO) has withdrawn grace period of 5 days for depositing the dues with effect from February ,2016. EPFO has earlier issued a circular on 8th January, 2016 to this effect. In a communication to employers ,EPFO has informed that the dues for the month of Jan, 2016 are to be paid by 15th February 2016. In view of availability of technological tools to the employers, the concession of 5 days has outlived its basic purpose and utility. Accordingly, the concession of grace period of 5 days available to the employers for depositing the contribution and other dues has been withdrawn.
Employers are required to pay the contributions and administrative charges within fifteen days of close of every month as per the provisions of EPF & MP Act 1952 under three Schemes namely Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme (EPFS), 1952, Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995 and Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLIS), 1976.A grace period of 5 days was also allowed in addition to the statutory provisions. This grace period of 5 days wasallowed in view of the practice of manual processing of calculation of wages and dues of the employees at the end of Employers. The remittances of the dues in the bank also required additional time in the manual setup.
Recent technological advancement, have empowered employers to compute the wages and liabilities through aid of computers. Facility now exists to file Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) and remittance of dues through Internet Banking. This has substantially reduced the process and time taken in calculation of PF dues and its remittances in the bank.
The concession of 5 days has outlived its basic purpose and utility. Accordingly, the concession of grace period of 5 days available to the employers for depositing the contribution & other dues iswithdrawn.
This shall apply from February, 2016 for depositing contributions for the month of January, 2016 that is payable in the month of February, 2016.The employers will therefore need to deposit the remittances within 15 days of close of every month from February, 2016.
The field offices of EPFO are being asked to sensitize large establishments that employ more than 500 employees, all PSUs and important establishment in this regard, through local press releases, emails and at appropriate forums.