Navigating EPF Rules: Do We Need to Enroll Non-Eligible Employees in Our New Company?

Hello All,

We are a small company based in Chennai. We have 4 employees in Chennai and 3 employees working in Delhi. We have planned to recruit 15 new employees to be located in Chennai. All of the existing employees and the planned-to-be employees have and will have a salary of more than 15,000 PM. This makes all our employees fall under the non-eligible category for PF.

My question is:

1) Do we still need to enroll under PF and provide any statement/document stating that all employees are non-eligible employees?

2) Do employees need to give any self-declaration that they understand they are non-eligible employees and are not interested in any voluntary contributions?

Thanks in advance.

Shilpa

EPF Coverage for Employees in Chennai and Delhi

With the addition of 15 employees in Chennai, your total strength would be 22, and EPF coverage has to be there. The fact that three of them are located in Delhi may not help if they are controlled and paid a salary from Chennai.

It is clarified that if these employees were already members of EPF before joining you, they will have to continue to be so, even if they are receiving a salary above the ceiling limit as per the PF Act (currently >Rs. 15,000 per month). However, if they are new to employment, then they need not be a member.

Answers to Your Questions

1) Even if there are no eligible employees immediately, when the employee count reaches 20, you will have to register your company under the EPF Act. When applying, mention the eligible employees as zero.

2) You need to ask the employees to produce Form II, which is an undertaking that they are not enrolled as an EPF member earlier, along with other details. If any of the employees were already members of the EPFO scheme, then that employee needs to be enrolled under your EPF company registration.