subject: Check List - Pf Annual Returns [print this page] Provident fund is an important source of saving for all salaried employees. It is an attractive savings option and members are eligible to withdraw money as advances from their PF Accounts for purposes like marriage, education, medical treatment etc, subject to the prescribed conditions. The big advantage is that the said advance is totally tax-free and interest-free. In addition to these, members can also avail pension benefit for which a member should have completed 10 years of continuous service or he / she should have attained the age of 50 years or more and he / she shouldnt be receiving any other EPF pension. Such a member will receive the Pension amount on a monthly basis after attaining the age of 58. If the employee does not fall in the above criteria, he can apply for withdrawal of Pension amount.
For these benefits to accrue, the PF annual return should be filed by the employer on time, so that salaried employees will get their benefits hassle-free in the long run. What are the steps that an employer or his HR department must put in place for the smooth filing of PF annual returns?
The employer must submit Form 3A and 6A, on or before 30th of April, every year. If the employer has outsourced their statutory compliance in HR , PT management, PF Trust management , PF-ESI solutions providers or their staffing requirements, then normally the outsourced vendor will handle it. Players like TalentPro handle the complete end-to-end statutory compliance, as staffing agents.
Here is a check list of the steps that one must run through before filing their provident fund returns, annually:
As an employer you must submit Form 3A and 6A to the respective EPFO of your area concerned. You will receive contributory slips to your employees. These serve as a guide for them to know the balance in their account.
Form 3A Members Annual Contribution Card shows the month wise recoveries towards E.P.F and Pension Fund with respect to a member for the concerned financial year.
Form 6A Consolidated Annual Contribution Statement provides annual contributions of each member of the establishment. This is an important form for compiling the annual Provident Fund statement of a subscriber.
The employer is required to contribute towards provident fund and the deduction rate is like an employees contribution i.e. 12% of the wages. Of this 12%, 3.67% goes to Provident Fund and the balance of 8.33% goes to Pension Fund.
Form 12 A is the monthly return. So before filing the annual return, ensure that all the relevant remittance challans for the whole year are in place.
The other mandatory forms are Form 5, Form 10 and Form 12A for the said period, and these must have been filed. If not, get it done immediately.
Keep a master list of your employees' PF numbers handy, along with Form 6A of the previous year for reference.
Before submission ensure that all individuals numbers are right by cross checking with the master data. Ensure that the submission is done on time to give you a chance to get the PF slips earlier from the PF department.
To get deeper into this topic compliance in India contact a consultant and they should be able to guide you on the how tos and whys of the Provident Fund Act - Because failure to file it on time can attract severe penalties. Defaults by employer in paying contributions or inspection/administrative charges attract imprisonment up to 3 years and fines up to Rs.10,000 (S.14). For any retrospective application, all dues have to be paid by employer with damages up to 100% of arrears. For more details, you may also want to log on to http://www.epfindia.com/returns_submission1.htm, for downloading appropriate forms.
