Is the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) Applicable for New EPF Members Earning Over 15,000 Rs?

Clarification on Employee Pension Scheme (EPS) Applicability

Respected Seniors, I am writing this post with reference to the above subject. Please clarify: Those who joined the EPF for the first time after 1 Sep 2014 and are earning more than 15,000 Rs in basic and DA will not be contributing to the Pension Scheme (EPS).

For new members joining the EPF scheme on or after 1 September 2014, the contribution is required to be made only under the PF, and they are not eligible for membership in the insurance scheme (EPS). Both the employer’s and employee’s share, 12% of the salary each, will be allocated fully to the PF (A/c 1).

Please find the attached EPF Gazette Notification (Refer to pages 2 & 3, points 7 & 8).

I request a favorable reply from your end, sir.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
Austin

Whenever an employee joins your establishment, please obtain EPF Form #11 (New) duly completed and signed by the employee. If an employee was already a member of EPS and if he had not withdrawn EPS accumulations, cover him under EPS up to Rs15,000 even if his EPF wages are more than Rs15,000.

In case he was not a member of EPS earlier or was a member of EPS and had withdrawn, he need not be covered under EPS if his EPF wages at the time of joining your establishment are more than Rs15,000.

Thank you, Srinath sir, for your reply. Sir, what if the member has joined EPF for the first time and his B+DA is more than 15,000 but by mistake has been covered under EPS. After retirement, can the employee claim EPS? Will he get the pension?

You mentioned that an employee has been mistakenly covered under EPS, making him ineligible for the benefits. To correct this error, you need to take the following actions immediately:

- Stop contributions to the EPS account promptly.
- Provide a letter to the PF department acknowledging the mistake and requesting the transfer of the EPS amount contributed to the EPF account.
- Implement proper systems to prevent such mistakes from happening in the future.

Dear Sir, I asked the above doubt to clarify. I have recently joined an organization, and the PF payments were due. In our organization, we prepare the PF statement and send it to a consultant. The consultant will verify and process the payments.

There were 5 new joiners, and the members joined EPF for the first time, and their B+DA is more than 15,000. So, I sent the PF statement with EPS=0. The consultant came back arguing that I was incorrect and not following the right method. I tried explaining to him by showing the EPF Gazette Notification. However, he was not in a position to correct himself as he has been the consultant of the organization for a long time. I even tried explaining to the top management about the same issue, stating that the employee would not be eligible for the benefits provided if the new employee has been covered under EPS. The payments have to be done by the consultant as per the old method and have covered them under EPS.

Kindly advise on how to deal with such a situation when the consultant is following incorrect procedures?

Employee Coverage Under EPS

The following employee will not be covered under EPS: An employee becoming a PF member for the first time, and whose EPF wages are more than Rs 15,000/- PM, with an EPF contribution exceeding Rs 1,800/- PM.

Employee Covered Under EPS

The following employee will be covered under EPS: An employee who was a member of EPF and EPS in his previous employment and has not withdrawn his past accumulations, even though his EPF wages are more than Rs 15,000/- PM and EPF contribution is more than Rs 1,800/- PM. Such an employee's EPS contribution has to be made up to a maximum of Rs 15,000/- (EPS wages) and a maximum EPS contribution of Rs 1,250/- PM.

Please check whether there is any error in coverage under EPS.

I am facing the same problem. I had earlier withdrawn my PF and pension contributions. I joined another organization with a basic salary of more than ₹15,000 in 2015. My employer did not follow the circular at that time and deposited only ₹1250 as a pension contribution. I was also unaware of this fact at that time. Now, when I resigned from that organization and filed a withdrawal claim, the EPFO Office rejected my claim on the grounds that I am not eligible for the Pension scheme as my basic salary was more than ₹15,000 and instructed my previous employer to file a revised ECR.

For over 6 months, I have been following up with my previous employer and the EPFO office, but nothing has happened so far. An interesting thing is that when I contacted my current employer and the EPFO office, they both stated that they have no knowledge of such an issue and confirmed that I am eligible for the pension scheme with a maximum contribution of ₹1250. I am now confused about what to do. I am unable to transfer my PF until this issue is resolved because if I transfer the PF and then my pension is transferred to my previous PF account by my previous employer, I am unsure what will happen to that PF. Please guide me on what I should do.

I am facing a similar issue as Sandeep. I joined organization XXX after post-graduation in 2016. In the PF form, I mentioned that I was not a member of EPF and EPS previously. As per the rule, since my basic salary was more than 15,000, I was only a member of the EPF scheme.

In 2018, I switched to a new company, YYY. However, this time, I mistakenly mentioned that I am a member of the EPF and EPS scheme. I am receiving 1,250 in my EPS account.

In 2019, the YYY company closed and merged with its parent company, ZZZ. In company ZZZ, I am also a member of both EPF and EPS schemes.

I tried once to transfer PF from XXX to ZZZ, and it was successful. However, when I attempted to transfer PF from YYY to ZZZ, it got rejected as EPF wages are more than Rs 15,000.

I have already informed my current company, ZZZ, about my mistake. They have advised me to submit a fresh PF document and a duly signed letter to the PF office, mentioning the mistake. The timeline to resolve this issue (close the EPS account) can take one year.

I am now moving to a new company in a few weeks, and I plan to mention in the new company's joining PF document that "I am a member of the EPF scheme only."

Confirmation of Process

Can someone please confirm if my process is correct below:

1) I will join the new company and mention that I was a member of the EPF scheme only previously so that they will not deposit 1,250 in my EPS account.

2) I will wait for the issue to be resolved by ZZZ company regarding the EPS account closure.

3) Once the issue is resolved, I will transfer the EPF balance to my new company.

Please guide me on the issue below:

I had an EPF and EPS account since 2014, which I withdrew in 2016. For close to ten months, there was no PF contribution. In 2017, I changed jobs. However, due to a mistake, my new employer created a new UAN, and my PF accumulation went into that account. I am now in the process of transferring all my PF to one account, but my request is being rejected due to "WAGES MORE THAN 15000 NON EPS MEMBER GIVE SERVICE DETAILS PRIOR TO 01.09.2014 IF ANY TRANSFER IN".

Please advise me on what steps to take in this situation.