The employee Provident Fund Scheme is one of the most useful employee beneficial schemes introduced by the Ministry of Labour. It is one of the ideal retirement funds. It is a type of savings account where both employer and employee contributes an equal amount at regular intervals. Such contributions can be made only by those employers who are registered and employees of registered employers. Employer registration can be either through statute mandate or voluntary.

As per the PF Act, every company/organization employing more than 20 individuals, including employees who are on contract, must register under PF Act.

Once the PF Act is applicable, the employer’s organization continues to be governed by the PF Act even if the number of employees falls below 20 at any time.

Further, it is not mandatorily applied to all employees of the registered establishments. Only such employees earning up to Rs. 15,000 are eligible to be covered under the PF Act and can make contributions. Both employers and employees who are not mandated by PF Act can voluntarily register and contribute for PF.

PF Payment Online

Though contribution to PF account is made both by employer and employee, payment is to be made to PF account by employer who is registered with PF Act.

From September 2015 it is mandatory for all establishments to pay PF online. Online PF payment can be made by the employer either on the EPFO website or through an authorized bank website (if the bank allows direct payment through their website) in which the employer has an account and net banking.

Presently EPFO has tie-up arrangements with 10 banks to collect EPFO dues and banks are SBI, PNB, Indian Bank, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Steps for PF Payment Online

1. Login to the unified portal of EPFO using your Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) portal credentials https://unifiedportal-emp.epfindia.gov.in/epfo/

1. Ensure PF details of the establishment such as establishment ID, Name, address, exemption status, etc. shown are correct

1. From the ‘Payment’ option drop down select ‘ECR upload’

1. Select ‘Wage Month’, ‘Salary Disbursal Date’, Rate of contribution and upload the ECR text file

1. Uploaded ECR file will be validated for predefined conditions and a screen will appear with the message ‘File Validation Successful. If the ECR file is not validated, the error will throw up. Correct the ECR text file for the specified format and upload again till it is successfully validated

1. On the same page, TRRN generated will be displayed for the uploaded ECR file. Click on ‘Verify’.

1. Click on the ‘Prepare Challan’ button to generate ECR summary sheet

1. Now enter Admin/Inspection Charges and click on the ‘Generate Challan’ Button

1. Click on the ‘Finalize’ button after verifying the challan amount

1. Click on ‘pay’ against the relevant TRRN

1. Select payment mode as ‘online’ and choose from any of the banks appearing in the drop-down menu and click on ‘continue’

1. This action will take you to your bank’s internet banking login website where you need to log in and make payment through net banking

1. On successful payment, Payment/Transaction-id will be generated and an e-Receipt for transaction confirmation will be populated.

1. The transaction will be updated at EPFO Portal

1. The confirmation of payment against the TRRN number will be provided by EPFO