PF Return Filing

PF Return Filing is done by the employer and with the requirements of the Unified Portal of PF filing. An employer is compulsorily required to file the returns on the prescribed time, who is registered under the Employees Provident Fund System.

An employee provident fund PF is for any company with 20 or more employees and registered under the Employees Provident Fund Organization of India (EPFO).

The employee must contribute 12% of the basic salary into the PF account and employer’s contribution is 3.67% and the rest 8.33% is transferred to the Employees Pension Fund. The filing of a Provident Fund return is beneficial for claiming insurance, medical and taxation benefits.

Process of PF Return Filing Online

An employer who is registered under the Employees Provident fund system for filling forms given as follows:

1. Form 2

The employer utilizes Form 2 under the Employee Family scheme. It should be submitted with Form 5. Part A and Part B are filled as per the requirements.

Part A of Form 2 includes the name of the nominees of the PF account holder. Part A comprises the following fields filled by the employee:

• Name, age and Address
• Relation with the account holder
• Amount paid to the nominee
• Details of the guardian
• Signature

The Part B of Form 2 includes the details of nominees mentioned in Part A of ESI and PF return filing in the form. The details of the nominee eligible for receiving children's pension. The signature of the employee must be included.

• The month of filing with the year
• Name of the company
• Address of the company
• Code and serial number
• Account number of the employee
• Employee’s Name
• Father’s name
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Joining date
• Work experience as of the date of joining
• Signature of employer
• Stamp of the company
• Date of filing

3. PF return filing in Form 10

A monthly report includes the details of PF subscribers who are not part of the scheme a month. The details filled in by the employer are as follows:

• Account number of the account holder of the employee
• Name of the employee
• Name of the father
• Date of leaving
• Reason for leaving the job

4. Form 12 A

A monthly report with house details of the payments made to employees with individual PF accounts by the employer every month.

Forms for Filing Annual PF return

The annual returns forms for PF 3A and Form 6A are filled by the 30th April of every year is the PF return filing due date.

1. Form 3A

The member's annual contribution contains details of monthly contributions made by the employer and employee in the PF account. The form with the following details is filed with the signature and stamped by the employer.

• Account number of employee
• Employee’s name and father’s name
• Company’s name
• Address of company
• Rate of contribution
• Voluntary rate

2. Form 6A

It is a consolidated annual statement that includes the contributions toward every subscriber’s PF account. The filled have the following details:

• Account number of employee
• Employee’s name
• Wages, retaining allowance, dearness allowance and cash value of food concession paid
• Amount of PF contributions made in the subscriber’s account with PF return filing fees
• Employer’s contribution to EPF and pension
• Advance refund of PF
• Rate of voluntary contribution with details of contribution by each employee in their voluntary PF

Annual Account Statement

The employer for filing PF returns online in Form 3 and Form 6 in the employee's provident fund organization in the annual statement of accounts for the employee through the employee. The statement of accounts has details given below:

• Balance at the time of opening with the interest of employer and employee
• Contribution of both employer and employee annually
• PF return Interest rate in form of Contribution
• Number of Contributions by both employer and employee

Process of Filing Electronic Cum Return (ECR) on Unified Web Portal

The following are the steps involved in EPF return filing on EPFO unified web portal:

Step 1: For PF return Login on EPFO portal with the ECR username and password

Step 2: Check the establishment name, ID, address and exemption status.

Step 3: For uploading ECR, visit the payments tab

Step 4: Upload the ECR file and then click on the ECR help file for viewing the ECR file format

Step 5: For uploading ECR, select the month of receiving a salary.

Step 6: Select the uploading ECR text file

Step 7: Select the Type of ECR, and contribution rate and click on the upload button

Step 8: The portal shows a validation successful message

Step 9: Click on verify option for PF return filing and generation of a temporary return reference number

Step 10: Generate ECR challan

Step 11: Make the payment and click on Pay

Details Provided by the Employer

The employer provides the following details with EPF Form downloaded from the EPFO website:

• Name and address of the company with head office and branch details
• Date of incorporation of the company
• Provide details of employees like name, date of joining and salary, etc.
• Business of the company
• Details of the director
• Details of the bank of the company
• PAN details

Due Dates of Filing PF returns

The due date of monthly returns of Provident fund contributions is deposited on or before the 15th of the following month for PF return filing is done on the EPFO portal. The annual return of PF is on 25th April. The electronic challan cum return is filed on or before the 15th of the following month.

Penalty on delayed payment of PF contribution

The following are the period with the penalty given:

1. The period of delay up to 2 months is 5% per annum.
2. The period of delay from 2 - 4 months is 10% per annum.
3. The period of delay up to 4 – 6 months is 15% per annum.
4. The period of delay of more than 6 months is 25% per annum up to 100%.

• Employee’s Welfare

  The organization must value and increase the welfare of its employees.

• Lawful Compliance

  The company should adhere to the laws and duly comply with the filing of returns. It must follow transparency in the process of PF registration.

• Social Security

  The process of provident fund returns is managed by the EPFO providing social security. The compliance and law system are hassle-free.

• Benefits of Insurance

  The organization which doesn’t offer insurance gets the benefits of the Employee Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI). The 5% of the monthly contribution should be paid as a premium for insurance for PF return filing.

• Medical Benefits

  The employee can withdraw an amount of salary contribution and is equivalent to six times or the full amount whichever is less for medical expenses.

• Taxation Benefits

  The different forms of taxation under the scheme and benefits are enjoyed by employer and employee both.