Understanding EPF Compliance: How to Correctly Report NCP Days and Wages in ECR?

EPF & MP ACT 1952 - CAIU Wage Analysis: ZERO Wages & ZERO NCP Days - Remittance of Wages as per Provisions of the Act - Clarification Called For

Ref: ECR/TRRN filed for the wage month December 2017 to April 2018 in respect of your establishment.

Sir/Madam, It is brought to your notice that the Non-Contribution Period (NCP) days should be correctly reflected in the ECR monthly return to ensure that the non-contributory period does not get counted as a contributory period. Employers should also ensure that they fully contribute towards the Provident Fund for the full working period of an employee and not on very low unrealistic wages.

Our system-generated verification of the ECR returns for the wage months from December 2017 to April 2018, filed by your establishment online, has observed that some employees' wage particulars are shown as ZERO, whereas the corresponding data/information at column number 12, such as NCP days, have not been furnished. In case there are no NCP days in a month, it will be construed that the above-said employees have been on your payrolls, incorrect wage details have been furnished, and treated as having not remitted the dues amount for the said employees.

Further, it is ascertained from your establishment ledger that some members' monthly wages are reflecting less than Rs.5,000/-. As of now, these wages are irrespectively low compared to the prevailing Minimum Wages.

You are therefore advised to verify the above-said discrepancy in respect of other due months and file a correct ECR duly reflecting the status of all the employees with reference to their working status in your establishment within 3 days. Henceforth, you are hereby advised to furnish the actual wages and NCP days in the monthly ECR. Failing which, action as envisaged under the Act will be initiated against your establishment for non-compliance. This is for strict compliance.

What do you intend to inquire about by simply posting the email received from EPFO? In the title of the thread, you mentioned that you require guidance on this issue. What kind of guidance are you seeking?

There are two main issues at hand. One pertains to NCP days, and the other concerns monthly wages that are less than 5000, which is below the prevailing Minimum Wage Rate.

If the wages shown in the ECR do not account for all working days plus paid days, you must indicate the loss of pay days as NCP. Subsequently, you are required to submit the corrected ECR to EPFO in a Txt file.

You must ensure that the wages you provide comply with the Minimum Wage Act applicable to you. In their email, EPFO has requested the submission of actual wages and NCP days in the monthly ECR. It is imperative that you adhere to this requirement stringently.

Hi all,

We also received the same intimation email from the EPFO department for the same period. However, we have not made any short payments, have no NCP days, and do not have anyone below ₹10,000. Could you please advise on what the issue might be and how we should respond to this intimation from the department?

Thank you.

Dear Merlinds, you should start mentioning NCP days as '0' if that is the case in the ECR. If your email indicates that you need to provide a Show Cause, then you are advised to respond accordingly by stating that you have taken the necessary steps to include the NCP days in the ECR.