Major Steps Taken by EPFO -2018

Based on data received from The Ministry of Labour and Employment, below are major steps taken by Employees Provident Funds organization in 2018.

Prominent Steps- 

• In February 2018, an online functionality for filing nomination (Form 2) to the members at Member interface of Unified Portal was provided. In online nomination, Aadhaar based eSign is being used to authenticate the nomination submitted by member. 
• A pensioners’ portal was launched in March 2018 through which all EPFO pensioners can get details of pension related information like pension payment order number, pensioner’s payment order details, pensioner’s passbook information and pension credited date and details of pensioner’s life certificate submission including Jeevan Pramaan Digital Life Certification information.
• At the time of registration of an establishment, employer has to upload digitally signed copy of PAN card. To eliminate the requirement of submitting scanned copy of PAN card at the time of registration, an online system has been put in place for verifying details of PAN directly from the Income Tax Department.
• For facilitating Ease of Doing Business, an online functionality for calculation and payment of damages under Section 14 B and interest under Section 7Q of Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provision Act for the belated remittances has been launched. Earlier, the notices were sent to the employers for payment under these Sections. Under the new functionality, the employer himself can select the cases of belated remittances to make payment immediately where auto challans showing the dues will be generated for payment without requiring the employer to visit EPFO field offices.
• In order to facilitate the employers, the requirement of submission of hard copy of Form 5A has been replaced by online submission of Form 5A by establishments with digital/e- signatures by employers.
• Under Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY), the Government of India is now paying full employer’s contribution (EPF and EPS both) with effect from 1st April, 2018 for a period of three years to the new employees as well as to the existing beneficiaries for their remaining period of three years. Before 1st April, 2018, the Government was paying under PMRPY only the EPS share (8.33% of the wages) out of the total employer’s share of contribution (12% of the wages).
• In order to ensure that the employers, especially contractors, pay contribution towards provident fund for the full working period of an employee and not on very low unrealistic wages, a tool for monitoring the above issues, namely, wage analysis report, has been provided in Central Analysis & Intelligence Unit (CAIU) dashboard. Through this tool, field functionaries can see the analysis of wages for establishments in respect of their Zones / Regional Offices and ensure that, wherever required, the verification of details furnished by employers in monthly returns (ECR) is done so that there is correct reporting and full compliance in respect of individual employees.
• The rate of administrative charges were reduced from 0.65% to 0.50% of the pay towards EPF Scheme 1952 subject to minimum sum of seventy –five rupees per month for every non-functional establishment having no contributory member and five hundred rupees per month per establishment for other establishments.
• A new functionality has been introduced to rectify cases of rejection of Digital Life Certificates (DLCs) due to incorrect Aadhaar number seeded against PPOs. This functionality is aimed to reduce grievances of pensioners and provide hassle free services to them.
• A new functionality for rejection of erroneously processed intra-office transfer claims and reprocessing the claims with correct details was started on 05.10.2018 to streamline the process of claim settlement and ensure better delivery of services to subscribers.
• Online Nomination (e-Nomination), linking of UAN with AADHAAR through UMANG APP and online linking of UAN with AADHAAR in EKYC PORTAL using Bio-metric credentials was introduced.

*Source- Ministry of Labour & Employment