Employers Guide to EPFO Registration (PF Registration) - Enterslice

Functioning under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, Employees Provident Fund (EPF, or more popularly PF) is a program under the jurisdiction of Employees Provident Fund Organization, having its administrative command vested in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. To brag about EPFO the least, it is one of the largest Social Security Organizations in the world, with respect to its customers’ base and the intensity of financial transactions harnessed.

EPF Registration

In defining terms, EPF is a part of the benefits package, which an employee is made entitled to during
his/her service in a registered firm in the organized sector. Fundamentally, it is like a pension plan,
a fixed sum of money that an ex-employee receives on a monthly basis upon the retirement and
discontinuation of the salary.  Basic mathematics suggests that a small sum of money to deducted
and deposited to EPFO by the employer after adding an equal sum of money, again by the employer.

EPFO Enrollment for Employers (Applicability)

Every establishment, compact or large, is compulsorily required to perform EPF registration. However,
to define the lines accurately, organizations

• which are factories, involved in any industry with employee strength of at least 20 or more persons, or organizations passing the threshold of employing 20 or more employees, including establishments that are directed via notification by the Central Government.
• Central Government may also occasionally impose a registration requirement on any establishment employing less than 20 employees, however, only with two months’ beforehand notice.
• In which the employer and most of the employees are in approval of provisions of Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. Such establishments can voluntarily submit their application to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner; the commission may enforce the EPF provisions via notification published in the official gazette.

A contribution of 12% of the provident fund should be divided equally among the employer and the employee. For organizations having more than 20 employees, the contribution of the employer shall be 12% of the basic pay on top of dearness and other applicable allowances. And, 10% shall be the rate, the rest of the conditions being the same if an establishment is composed of less than 20 employees.

Step-by-Step EPFO Filing Instructions for Employers

Employers are required to follow all the steps mentioned below for successful PF registration of their companies.

Step 1: EPFO Enrollment of Your Company.

Log on to the official EPFO website, www.epfindia.gov.in which is a multi-functional portal, and look for the button “ESTABLISHMENT REGISTRATION”.

Important: Recently, a few instances were reported where fake EPFO websites were being used to swindle users. Please make sure you only log on to the official website mentioned above. EPFO does not claim to have any other alternative website for registration.

Step 2: The EPFO User Manual

Clicking on the ‘ESTABLISHMENT  REGISTRATION’ link/button would redirect you to a new page where you would find  ‘INSTRUCTION MANUAL’. If you are a new applicant, you must save the file on your computer and go through the entire manual prior to commencing the registration process.

Step 3: Digital Signature Certificate Registration

The registered employers can now log into the portal with their credentials, which is the Universal Account Number (UAN) and the chosen password. The instruction manual plays an important role in understanding the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the steps performed in Employer Registration which is why it was recommended to go through the manual first. Coming back, since DSC (an electronic equivalent of the physical certificate, functional at serving as a proof of identity) registration is a crucial part, ERF registration page would allow you to perform the task.

Step 4: Employer’s Details

Put a check on the “ I have read the instruction manual” declaration and hit on the “REGISTER” button at the end of the web content. Upon clicking, your browser would take you to a new page where all your details concerned with running your business and employing the volume of employees would be requested.

Note: All the fields with an asterisk (*) mark are mandatory to continue the registration.

Step 5: Filling out the form

• The First Name: The first name, middle name and last name should be written in the same identical manner as in the Income-tax filings. Any advertent or inadvertent variation in the names provided to the Income Tax Department and in the filing of EPFO form might incur a rejection at the verification stage.

• PAN: Employers would need to fill in their Permanent Account Number in the following fields.
•  Username: Usernames are subject to availability. Employers may suggest a username in the field, however, only the system may decide if the username can be acquired.

• Hint Q&A: Like any other online platform, employers must set a unique question and assign an answer to it. This step comes in handy in case of a loss of credentials. Upon the performance of the step, employ would be required to fill the CAPTCHA Code field looking at the alphanumeric character embedded, and click the GET PIN button.

• Mobile Verification PIN: A text with a code would be sent to your registered number which you would be required to fill in before clicking on ‘I agree to the above declaration’.

• Activate E-mail link: An e-mail link will be sent to the given e-mail id which is to be activated to enable the submission of an application for online registration of the establishment.

Documents Required For EPF Registration

The list of documents required for EPF enrollment may change as per the form of the business entity seeking registration. All the details can be found on the current page on the website. However, for entities other than Proprietorship and Partnership Firms, Trust, Society, LLPs, The following are the required documents to be furnished.

• A sale invoice.
• First purchase invoice of material or machinery.
• Registration Certificate for GST
• Bank details incl. name, branch, IFSC code address, etc.
• Record the number of employees.
• Salary records, balance sheets from beginning to the date of application.
• A canceled cheque.

Online EPF Registration

 There wraps up the employers' guide to EPFO registration. For any other queries related to EPF registration, please feel free to contact: info@enterslice.com.