Confused About EPS Eligibility for New Employee with 21,000 Salary? Need Your Advice

Understanding the EPS Scheme

I want to know about the EPS scheme. I have registered a new employee on the EPFO portal, and the employee has a basic salary of 21,000. Now, when I am uploading the ECR, the validation failed. The statement from EPFO indicates that the employee is not eligible for the EPS scheme, and EPS should be zero. We are already paying the EPS for those whose basic salary is above 21,000. I need your valuable suggestions on this.

Regards

EPS Eligibility Criteria

There is a circular from EPFO No. Actuarial/18(2)2008/Vo.III/7738 dated 29.08.2014 wherein at point no. 8, it is clearly mentioned that EPS will henceforth apply only to EPF members whose salary at the time of becoming a PF member is not more than Rs. 15,000.

Unfortunately, many organizations, including Regional PF office employees, are not aware of the circular. Earlier, many organizations had deposited EPS contributions, even though the employees were not eligible. Now, the EPFO system will not allow the deposit of the same, as it happened in your case.

S K Bandyopadhyay (WB, Howrah)
CEO-USD HR Solutions