Who Covers Past Employee Contributions When Registering Late Under the PF Act?

Query Regarding Employee Contribution Under PF Act

I have a query regarding employee contribution. An establishment comes under the PF Act but does not get itself registered. Now, if it wants to get registered, who will pay the employee contribution of past years? Will it deduct from employees, arrange on its own, or is it spared from depositing employee contribution?

Thanks and regards,

Do you have funds collected separately for previous years for PF contribution? If not, then you can start PF collection from the next payroll cycle.

Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Arrears and Employer Responsibility

The arrears of EPF (employee's share) cannot be deducted from an employee's salary. Please read paragraph 32. The employer is liable to register the establishment from the date on which it employs 20 or more persons. If the employer fails to do so, employees are not responsible for deducting the arrears of the employee's contribution from their wages.

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It is the responsibility of the Establishment to comply with the PF Act from the date of its applicability. Since you have confirmed that there have been 20 or more employees for the past two years, you are required to implement the Act with retrospective effect. Consequently, you must pay both contributions up to the date of the PF order and deduct the current month's employees' contribution from their salary, continuing this process going forward.

As rightly advised by Mr. Varghese Mathey and Mr. Gurumoorthy, I too agree with the same. The registration under the Act is the employer's duty. If you want to implement by a back date, the liability should be borne by both sides of employers. In addition to this, you may have to pay a fine until the date of depositing your contribution. There are two options. One is you can implement prospectively by registering your establishment under the scheme or you can implement retrospectively from a back date by bearing all the liabilities. Advice is that you contact your regional PF office and seek advice from the Enforcement Officer.

Regards,
Adoni Suguresh
Sr. Executive (Pers, Admin & Ind. Rels) Rtd
Labour Laws Consultant